28 SEPTEMBER 1934, Page 16

A Cuckoo Theory Yet another theory about the cuckoo reaches

me indirectly from a great naturalist in the West of Britain. He saw a pair of cuckoos intently observing a nest ; and this prefatory interest of the cuckoo in the nest it had, fixed, upon was one of the most interesting details of Mr. Chance's story of the " Cuckoo's Secret " ; but in this case both cuckoos watched, and when the moment came, the male bird uttered his note, drew the attention of the victims and while they mobbed 'him the hen bird deposited her egg. This egg was quite certainly inserted via the beak, in full accord with Mi. Bunyard's contention, for the robin's nest was so well niched in stones that the cuckoo could not possibly have laid an egg directly into the nest. Indeed, at a later date, the young cuckoo, born in due course, could not have escaped unless the friendly observer had moved some of the sores.

W. BEACH Moaris.