with in that neighbourhood wherever there are reeds in any quantity, with fenny land adjoining. During the
autumn and winter they are found dispersed, generally in small parties, throughout' the whole length o f the
Suffolk coast, wherever there are large tracts of reeds. I have found them numerous, in the breeding-season,
on the skirts of Whittlesea, near Huntingdonshire, and they are not uncommon in the fenny district of
Lincolnshire; whether they are to be met with further north I have had no means o f ascertaining, but they do
not appear to have been noticed north o f the Humber. I t begins building in the end o f April. The nest is
composed on the outside of the dead leaves o f the reed and sedge intermixed with a few pieces o f grass, and
invariably lined with the top of the reed, somewhat in the manner of the nest o f the Reed Wren ( Sylvia arundi-
nacea, L.), but not so compact in the iuterior. It is generally placed in a tuft o f coarse grass o r rushes, near
the ground, 011 the margin o f the dikes, in the fen ; sometimes fixed among the reeds that are broken down,
but never suspended between the stems. The eggs vary in number from four to six, rarely seven, pure white,
sprinkled all over with small purplish-red spots, intermixed with a few small faint lines and markings o f the
same colour; size about the same as that of the Greater Tit, but much more rounded and shorter. Their
food during the winter is principally the seed of the re e d ; and so intent are they in searching for it, th at I
have taken them with a birdlime twig attached to the end o f a fishing-rod. When alarmed by any sudden
noise, or the passing of a hawk, they utter their shrill musical notes and conceal themselves among the thick
bottom o f the reeds, but soon resume their station, climbing the upright stems with the greatest facility.
Their manners in feeding approach near to the Long-tailed Tit, often hanging with the head downwards, and
occasionally assuming the most beautiful attitudes. Their food is not entirely the reed-seed, but insects
and their larvae, and the very young shelled snails of different kinds, which are numerous in the bottom of
the reedlings. I have been enabled to watch their motions when in search o f insects, having, when there
has been a little wind stirring, been often within a few feet o f them, quite unnoticed, among the thick reeds.
Was it not for their note betraying them, they would be but seldom seen. The young, until the autumn
moult, vary in plumage from the old bird s; a stripe of blackish feathers extends from the hind p art of the
neck to the rump. It has been said that the males and females keep separate during the w in ter; but I have
always observed them in company; they appear to keep in families until the pairing-time, in the manner of
the Long-tailed Tit,^d iffe rin g in this respect, that you will occasionally find them congregated in large
flocks, more particularly during the month o f October, when they are migrating from their breeding-places.”
—Mag. Nat. Hist. voL iii. p. 328.
A question has of late years been raised by some ornithologists as to whether this bird has any real afliuity
to the members o f the genus Parus. The late Professor Macgillivray, taking the digestive organs as his
guide, considered it to be allied to the Buntings, and distantly related to the Emberiza schceniclus and to the
members o f the American genus Ammodramits; and Mr. Robert Tomes has written a very elaborate article in
the second volume of the ‘ Ibis I in support o f this view. Linnaeus a t one time referred it to the genus
Lanius; and Bewick termed it the Lesser Butcher Bird. After well considering the matter, I cannot perceive
that it has any direct alliance with either o f those genera; and while I admit that it differs, in many points
from the true Tits, I must advocate its Parine affinities: it is an aberrant form, certainly, but no more so than
that of the Penduline Tit, AEgithalus pendulums, o r the Sultan T it o f India, Melanochlora sultanea. The Parince
constitute a great group comprising many genera, with variously modified forms, the members of which are
widely dispersed over the surface o f the globe. Insects in their multitudinous variety furnish the main diet of
the whole family; but in the Bearded Tit we find a bird with a peculiarly formed, long, thick, and muscular
stomach, admirably adapted for grinding down the shells o f minute testaceous mollusks, upon which and the
seeds o f the reed it mainly subsists. In its active movements, wandering disposition, and gregarious habits,
it shows a Parine rather than a Fringilline relationship; in the number and markings o f its eggs it also
offers an assimilation; but in selecting a site for its nest, and the materials o f which it is constructed, it differs
not only from every other Tit with which we are acquainted, but also from the Buntings.
The male has the crown o f the head, nape, and cheeks delicate bluish g rey ; between the bill and the eyes
a black mark, which proceeds down the side o f each cheek and terminates in a fine and lengthened
moustache; throat white, passing into vinous grey o f the chest and upper p art o f the flanks; lower part of
the flanks, back, and four middle tail-feathers rich deep fawn-colour; lateral tail-feathers greyish white a t the
tips, with darker bases; primaries brown, margined externally with pure wh ite ; spurious wing brown;
greater coverts and secondaries rich deep fawn-colour, striated with black, the inner webs o f the two or
three nearest the body white; under tail-coverts black; irides clear yellow; bill light orange-yellow; legs,
feet, and claws black.
The female is rather less than the male, o f a more uniform fawn-colour, is destitute of the black moustache,
has the under tail-coverts buff, instead of black, and the bill yellowish grey.
The Plate represents the two sexes of the natural size, with a number of young birds of the first autumn in
the distance. The plant is the Phragmites communis of Lindley.