Warbler and Pipit
Now Mr. Bunyard watched the cuckoo chiefly when victimiz- ing wagtails and reed warblers. The wagtail's nest is usually difficult of approach and the reed warbler's frailly suspended. Mr. Chance observed Cuckoos with a preference for the nest of the pipit which is solid and apprOachable, being on the ground. Now Particular 'cuckoos—so it seems likely— habitually choose a particular species of victim. It is certainly possible, and to most of us it seems probable, that some cuckoos lay directly in the victim's nest, some place the egg there with the beak. Whether it is half swallowed first is another question, about which evidence is thin. The evidence is "very solid that some cuckoos lay the egg directly into the mea- dow pipit's nest and others place it by the agency Of the beak in reed warblers' nests. Whir should we suppose that different cuckoos (which, incidentally, lay differently Marked eggs) should adopt identical methods in dealing with different types of nest ? It is not even tine to say that no cuckoos feed their own young.
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