222 Nature and Habits of the Bearded Titmouse, 



tion of these gentlemen, make some head against my habitual 

 indolence, rummage my notes, and brush up my brains, being 

 most cordially a well-wisher to the cause. 

 Yours, &c. 



John F. M. Dovaston. 

 Westfelton, near Skrewsbmy, May 6. 



Art. IV. Remarks on the Nature and Habits of the Bearded 

 Titmouse (Parus biarmicus.) By a Lover of Nature. 



Sir, 

 In the Introduction to your valuable Magazine of Natural 

 History, you invite your readers " to communicate every cir- 

 cumstance, even the most trivial, respecting the nature, habits, 

 and economy of animals ;" and thus encouraged, I am induced 

 to offer a few remarks, drawn from my own observation, on 

 the nature and habits of 

 the Bearded Titmouse 

 (Parus bidrmicus) {Jig, 

 54.), which, as I have 

 not found mentioned in 

 any work on ornithology, 

 may, perhaps, be accept- 

 able, and be considered 

 to throw some light on 

 the history of a bird so 

 very little known. 



Bearded Titmice inhabit 

 the marshes bordering on 

 the Thames, both in Kent 

 and Essex. I was told, 

 in December last, that 

 some had been lately seen 

 in a large piece of reeds 

 below Barking Creek ; 

 and being desirous and 

 determined, if possible, to 

 see and observe them in 

 their haunts, I went, ac- 

 companied by one per- 

 son and a dog, to the 

 above-named place on a 

 cold windy dull morning, weather by no means favour- 

 able for my purpose ; but the reed-cutters having even 

 then commenced their operations, I was fearful of deferring 



