BEARDED TITMOUSE. 151 



forms tlie foundation of the reed beds, bnt never in any 

 way suspended. The materials consist of the dead 

 leaves of the sedge and reed loosely interwoven on the 

 outside, whilst the feathery top of the reed forms the 

 only lining. As soon as the breeding season is over, 

 these birds collect together in flocks, and perform short 

 migratory trips from one broad to another in search of 

 food, sometimes in sharp weather as many as forty and 

 fifty together, and I am assured by the broad-men that 

 even larger flights are occasionally seen. In the Cley 

 and Blakeney marshes, near the sea coast, the Eev. 

 E. W. DoweU has observed this species in small num- 

 bers on two occasions, but only in the months of 

 October and November; and as these were not seen 

 throughout the winter, and I am not aware that their 

 nests have been found in that neighbourhood, I 

 should consider them as merely roving flocks, attracted 

 by the reeds on the tidal marshes. When shooting 

 at Surhngham in the winter months, I have more 

 than once observed the arrival of a flock from some 

 neighbouring broad, their presence overhead being 

 indicated by the clear ringing sound of their sUvery 

 notes, uttered preparatory to their pitching into the 

 nearest reed bed, and in autumn, after roosting in 

 small parties on the reeds, they will fly up simul^ 

 taneously soon after sunrise, swarming for awhile 

 like a flock of bees ; and uttering in fidl chorus their 

 pretty song, disperse themselves over the reed beds for 

 their morning's meal. Dehcate as these Httle creatures 

 appear, I have found them during the sharpest frosts, 

 when the snipe had left the half frozen waters for upland 

 springs and drains, still busy amongst the reed stems as 

 lively and musical as ever. It is greatly to be regretted 

 that the demand for specimens from their handsome 

 plumage should lead to the wholesale slaughter of the 

 Bearded Tits throughout the winter; added to which. 



