THE BEARDED TITMOUSE 99 



species. It is also one of the most local. We have 

 evidence to show that formerly the Bearded Tit- 

 mouse occupied a much wider area in England 

 than is now the case. This area included Lincoln- 

 shire, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Norfolk, 

 Suffolk, Essex, Kent, Sussex (possibly Hants), 

 Dorset, and Devonshire. Probably it also occupied 

 suitable districts in the valley of the Thames, even 

 as far as Gloucestershire. At the present day this 

 range is sadly curtailed, and only includes the 

 counties of Devon, Suffolk (possibly), and Norfolk. 

 When we come to investigate the causes of such 

 rapid and wholesale restriction of area, we find it 

 directly attributable to the destruction by drainage 

 and enclosure of haunts, and to the direct per- 

 secution of man. We know that vast areas where 

 this bird formerly dwelt have been improved away ; 

 the forests of reeds and the wet lands have 

 vanished, and with them have gone the Bearded 

 Titmouse. But this can only explain part of the 

 extinction of the species. There are many wide 

 areas left that the bird was known at one time to 

 inhabit, but which are now apparently deserted, 

 and these haunts have been decimated in the 

 interests of collectors. Not only have marsh men 

 taken every nest they could fuid, but the parent 



