A CUCKOO PROBLEM . [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sm,—On July 28th last while repairing the tiled roof of this house, the builders, having stripped off the old tiles, found close to the eaves in the space between two rafters and under- neath the tile battens or laths, a starling's nest containing a fully fledged young cuckoo which appeared too big to get out of the narrow crevice between the tiles and the gutter board or facia, used as access by the foster parent starlings to feed it. When the last tile was removed the young cuckoo sprang up and flew off.
I was called by the men and went up the ladder and witnessed this.
I have been told the incident is a curious one, the nest unusual and the date late in the year to find a young cuckoo. If it was imprisoned, how did the female cuckoo deposit her egg unless by her beak, which is also, I understand, a debatable Lt.-Commander, R.N.R.
The Grange, Marchinglon, Staffordshire.
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