140 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



[vol. VI. 



as a rule they have no time for such delicate attentions ; 

 but the hen Bearded Tit is even more full of compressed 

 energy than the Common Wren, and can hardly be said 

 to rest even when brooding. 



The cock, however, does not permit his masculine mind 

 to be perturbed by these cares, though he is a curious mix- 



BEARDED TIT: INSPECTING THE NURSERY. 

 {Photographed by Miss E. L. Turner.) 



ture of virility and feminine attention to detail. Both 

 sexes build the nest, but it is the male that adds the 

 lining, after the first eggs are laid, carefully selecting the 

 brown feathery panicles of the reed Arundo phragmitis 

 for this purpose. Amongst other birds — warblers especi- 

 ally — the rough work is done by the male while minute 



