90 THE BIRDS OF SUSSEX. 



bird betrays it on returning to or leaving the nest. It 

 occasionally lays as many as fifteen or even twenty eggs. 



The male and female both roost in the nest. Its little 

 parties generally keep to themselves through the summer, 

 but in winter it often associates with the other insect-feeding 

 birds. 



PANURID^, 



BEARDED TITMOUSE. 

 Panurus hiarmicus. 



This species is entirely confined to reedy and marshy places. 

 In his ' Ornithological Dictionary/ published in 1803, 

 Montagu writes that he had met with a party of five, 

 doubtless a brood of the year, near AVinchelsea, among the 

 reeds close to the sea-shore. One of them, which he pro- 

 cured, was in its nestling feathers, but though he took pains 

 to find the nest he was unsuccessful. I have received it 

 from Amberley; and in September 1844 I saw two females 

 which, as well as several others of both sexes, had been shot 

 there, and it has since been found breeding there. It is, 

 however, much less common than it formerly was, in con- 

 sequence of the very large tract of marsh, known as the 

 Wildbrook, having been drained. It also bred in some reedy 

 ditches near Lancing until disturbed by the railway. 



Mr. Knox mentions a pair obtained near Amberley, and 

 another pair at Fishbourne, near Chichester, but gives no 

 date. Mr. Jeftery states that it is not now to be found 

 there, the reeds being also gone. 



