BEARDED TITMOUSE. 8r 



still a few short lines of very dark brown occur. Average 

 measurement, 78 inch in length, by -57 inch in breadth. 

 Incubation, performed pretty equally by both sexes, lasts 

 fourteen days. 



Diagnostic characters : The eggs of the Nuthatch 

 cannot with safety be distinguished from those of some 

 allied species, but the character of the nest is an unfail- 

 ing means of correct identification. 



Family PARID.E. Genus Panurus. 



Sub-family PANURIN.^. 



BEARDED TITMOUSE. 



Panurus biarmicus {Linnceus). 

 Double Brooded. Laying season, April to June and July, 



British breeding area : No more local bird breeds 

 within the British Islands than the Bearded Titmouse. 

 Formerly it was much more widely distributed than is 

 now the case, the drainage of fens and the persecution of 

 collectors having well-nigh exterminated it from all its 

 accustomed haunts. Almost its only stronghold now is 

 the district of the Broads in Norfolk. It may possibly 

 still continue to breed sparingly in Suffolk, as it certainly 

 does in at least one locality in Devonshire. 



Breeding habits : The favourite, and we may safely 

 sa)' the exclusive, haunts of the Bearded Titmouse are 

 extensive reed-beds — the vast expanses of marsh and 

 reed-clothed waters that may now almost only be found 

 in one English county. I am unable to say whether 

 the Bearded Titmouse pairs annually or remains in 



G 



