Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/118

86 seeing a Cuckoo under circumstances which left no doubt upon my mind that she was guilty. I was lying concealed in a boggy bit of ground watching for a Water Rail, when a Cuckoo flew out of a bush near by, and settled upon a post and rail which filled up a gap in the hedge. Not being on the alert for proof of egg-eating, I did not pay particular attention to the Cuckoo, and could not say whether or no she carried an egg with her; but on visiting the spot afterwards I certainly did find the recently broken shell and part of the albumen of a Blackbird's egg upon the top of the post where she had been sitting, and in the bush from whence she came was a Blackbird's nest containing three fresh eggs. Had a closer watch been kept upon the Cuckoo no doubt I should actually have witnessed her eat the egg, and perhaps also carry it from the nest; but unfortunately the chance was missed, and such opportunities do not recur every day.

Another trait in the habits of the Cuckoo, which seems sometimes to be doubted, is that she lays her egg upon the ground, and afterwards deposits it with her bill in the nest which she has chosen; but upon our Border moors, where the Meadow Pipit, or "Cheeper," as it is called, is by far the most frequent foster-parent to the young Cuckoo, the fact has long been known to that most observant race of men, the hill-shepherds. I have indeed frequently heard it asserted by these men that if you see a Cuckoo being closely pressed by a Cheeper, which seems particularly angry, while the Cuckoo flies silently and low, you may be certain that she has an egg in her mouth, and is seeking an opportunity of placing it in the Pipit's nest. The natural inference drawn is that the Pipit hopes by her attack to make the Cuckoo drop or break her egg. Should the latter succeed in safely depositing the egg in the nest, no further molestation is offered her; while it is said that she frequently utters her chattering notes as she flies off, as though chuckling to herself over her success.

The following rhyme is also well known upon the Borders, though perhaps scarcely so often heard as the two above quoted:—

March is so exceptionally early for the arrival of the Cuckoo that it is curious to find that month so often alluded to in these old rhymes, particularly in north-country ones. In very forward springs, however, the always welcome notes have been heard in Northumberland by the first week in April, and, in 1896, so early as March 25th; while in that year a Cuckoo was recorded as having been heard in Berwickshire on Feb. 20th—"a unique record for Scotland"—and apparently believed in!