lOO BEARDED TITMOUSE. 



Hungary, South Russia — especially in the marshes of the Black and 

 Caspian Seas — Turkestan, Yarkand and Southern Siberia : the 

 coloration of specimens becoming gradually paler from England 

 eastward to Central Asia. The bird has also been observed in 

 Albania, Greece and Asia Minor. 



On the Norfolk Broads the 'Reed Pheasant,' as it is called, 

 often begins to lay early in April ; the nest being placed near the 

 water, in sedge, crushed-down reeds, or aquatic plants, but never 

 suspended from the stems. It is composed of flat grass-blades, 

 sedges, and dead flags, with a lining of the flower of the reed. The 

 5-7 eggs are shining creamy-white, sparingly streaked with short wavy 

 lines of reddish-brown : average measurements 7 by -55 in. Some- 

 times two hens occupy the same nest, each laying an egg daily until 

 a total of 10 is reached. Two broods are produced in the season, 

 fresh eggs being obtainable up to the early part of August. The 

 note is a clear, ringing ping, ping; and when the nest is approached 

 a plaintive ee-ar, ee-ar is uttered. Even in the winter the birds are 

 lively and musical, and at that season they may be seen in flocks of 

 forty or fifty together ; often roving from the frozen inland waters to 

 those which are kept open by the influence of the tide. The food 

 consists largely of the seed of the reed in winter ; but in summer 

 the crops of some individuals have been found closely packed with 

 such small shell-bearing molluscs as Snccinea amphibia. In its diges- 

 tive organs and other points of internal structure this bird shows no 

 real affinity to the Tits, and some writers have advocated its relation- 

 ship to the Finches ; it is, however, as Professor Newton remarks, 

 a perfectly distinct form, with no very near relations, and quite 

 entitled to be regarded as the representative of a separate family, the 

 Pamii idcE. 



The adult male has the crown bluish-grey ; a black loral patch 

 descends diagonally from below the eye and terminates in a pointed 

 moustache; nape, back and rump orange-tawny; secondaries longitu- 

 dinally striped with bufiish-white, black, and rufous ; primaries brown 

 with white outer margins ; tail mostly rufous ; chin and throat 

 greyish-white turning into greyish-pink on the breast ; flanks orange- 

 tawny ; under tail-coverts jet black ; bill yellow ; legs and feet black. 

 Length 675 in. ; wing 2'25 in. The female has the head brownish- 

 fawn, and no black on the lores, cheeks, or under tail-coverts ; the 

 back is somewhat streaked, but in other respects she is merely duller 

 than the male. The young bird is like the female, but the crown 

 of the head and the middle of the back are streaked with black. 



