BEARDED TIT. 493 
the most rufous, those from Holland are somewhat paler ; examples from 
Transylvania are still more so; but those from Central Asia are the palest 
of all. Compared with British skins, this pale eastern race, to which 
Bonaparte gave the name of Panurus sibiricus (Calamophilus sibiricus, 
Bonap. Compt. Rend. 1856, p. 414), is an excellent species ; but the inter- 
_ mediate forms from the intervening localities compel us to consider the 
difference between them ouly subspecific*. 
The Bearded Tit, as much as the Reed-Warbler or Savi’s Warbler, and 
much more than the Reed-Bunting, is a bird of the reeds. In the Broads 
it is called the Reed-Pheasant from its pheasant-like tail; and by writers 
who for some reason or other think it is not one of the Parine, it is often 
called the Bearded Reedling. The reed-beds of the Broads are particularly 
adapted to the requirements of this remarkable-looking bird, and also 
afford excellent opportunities for watching its habits. You can quietly 
punt down the stream that winds through the reed-beds; and where it 
widens into a broad you can force your way amongst the reeds in many 
directions ; and where the stream is narrow you can land on the banks 
and wade far into the marshes on either side. The time to choose for a 
visit is the last half of April. The earliest date at which eggs are laid is, 
according to Stephenson, the first week in April; but the Bearded Tit 
has probably two broods, as I have eggs taken in the second week of June. 
When I was there on the 15th of May, the young were already hatched. 
We landed within a few yards of a nest of these charming birds; it con- 
tained three young ones, an egg in the process of hatching, and a rotten 
egg. Itis very important to have a calm day for studying the habits of 
the Bearded Tit. Its long tail is sadly in the way in windy weather, and 
forces it to keep almost entirely to the shelter of the reeds. Unfortunately 
a light breeze had sprung up during the morning, which also prevented us 
from hearing the notes of the parent birds as well as we otherwise should 
have done. Of course, so late in the breeding-season, we did not expect 
to hear the song, which is said to be only a few simple notes, something 
like those of the Blue Tit. The call-note appeared to be a musical ping, 
ping, something like the twang of a banjo. The alarm-note is said to bea 
chir-r-r-r, something like the scold of a Whitethroat. The cry of distress 
* There seems to be a conspiracy to deprive Bonaparte of the merit of his discovery 
altogether. The editors of the continuation of the Appendix to Naumano’s ‘ Birds of 
Germany,’ published after the death of the great ornithologist, say that the example which 
Bonaparte described was only a young bird of the Common Bearded Tit; and Dr, Gadow, 
in his volume of the British-Museum ‘Catalogue,’ containing the Tits, regards the pale 
examples obtained by Finsch as birds in abraded summer plumage, and moulting on the 
2nd of June! If it is possible that this is the case (of which, after a careful examination 
of the skins, I can see no evidence), it would be best to remove the Bearded Tit at once 
to the Warblers. 
