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Cuckoo.—Your correspondents, in answer to "NP's" enquiry in the July number of "The Midland Naturalist," regarding the note of the cuckoo, concur in stating that the frequent repetition of the first part of its note is very common. Such is my own observation; but is not Mr. J. R. Thompson mistaken in saying that this only occurs just before the is about to leave us, as I have frequently noticed the circumstance soon after the cuckoo's arrival in May? At the former-named period, however, its note is often very hoarse and peculiar, much like the sound produced by the trumpeter pigeon. The question of the cuckoo's incubation is a more important and interesting one. It is, I fancy, quite unique in the habit of depositing its egg in the nest of another bird, and this invariably an insectivorous one—usually a wagtail or a hedge-sparrow. It is sometimes asked how can this be managed, where the nest, as often happens, is in such a position as to make it impossible for the cuckoo to go in and lay its egg like any other bird? I am assured that the egg is first laid and then conveyed to its destination in the cuckoo's mouth or throat. An accident, which lately occurred over here, seems to confirm this explanation of the difficulty. A cuckoo flew against a plate-glass window and fell stunned by the blow. It was taken up and a little water sprinkled on it to revive it, which it was seen to vomit an egg, apparently from its throat. It the soon recovered, and was set at liberty. A few days later a cuckoo, possibly the same bird, was observed clinging to a mass of Jasmine close to the same spot, and an egg was deposited in a water-wagtail's nest, situated within the bush. A young cuckoo was seen afterwards hatched and reared there by the wagtails, and was an object of much interest to the inmates of the house during its growth and after it had left the nest, being, apparently, tended with the greatest solicitude by its foster parents. Can any of your readers supply farther information on this subject?—Arthur S. Male, Mere Rectory.

An Appie Tree in my garden, bearing fruit, has this week put out blossoms on one branch, a thing I never observed at so late a date before.—Wm. Elliot, Cardington Vicarage, Church Stretton, Aug. 9th, 1878.

Mirage, seen by Capt. A. E. Lawson Lowe, (from the camp of the North Durham Militia, at Redear.)—Capt. Lowe writes:—"This mirage occurred on July 18th, 1878, on an intensely hot day, (the temperature said to be 96° in the shade,) a little before six in the afternoon. Looking towards Hartlepool, (about six miles off,) the distance being particularly clear, every object in the town was distinctly visible. About a quarter of an hour later a slight haze seemed to rise along the sea line, stretching quite across in front of Hartlepool, and when next I looked the whole town was reflected upside dawn in the sky. Every object was exactly reproduced in a reverse position up to a certain height, where the mirage was cut off by a clearly defined line, above which was the blue sky. Exactly in front of Redcar, out at sea, the ships were not reversed, but appeared distorted, their masts and sails being carried up, agas it were, to twice their usual height. More to the right the ships appeared reversed in the same manner as was the town of Hartlepool; and at the extreme right, besides the reversed ships, each vessel had a shadowy representation of itself at a little distance to the right. The phenomenon lasted about ten minutes, Several of the officers were out fishing at the time, about a mile and a half from shore, and although they noticed the line of haze, the mirage was not visible from where they were."

Agave Americana (the American Aloe.)—Two of these rarely flowering plants have this year bloomed in the conservatory at Sudbourne Hall, Wickham Market, Suffolk, the seat of Sir Richard Wallace. The plants ave about 24ft. high, with branches very short and thickly set