BEARDED TITMOUSE 



BEARDED TIT PINNOCK BEARDED PINNOCK 

 REED PHEASANT. 



PLATE XXXVI. 



Panurus biarmicus^ .... LINNVEUS. 

 Calamophilus btarmicus, . . . JENYNS. GOULD. 



THE nest of the Bearded Tit is, owing to the drainage 

 of the fens, now only to be found in the Broads of 

 Norfolk, being scarce even there ; and in one district, which 

 Mr. H. Saunders knows but judiciously refuses to disclose 

 to the spoilers, in Devonshire it is placed among tufts of 

 grass, sedge, or crushed reeds, on the ground, and is formed 

 of dry stalks and blossoms of grass, reeds, and sedge, the 

 finer ones on the inside, and the coarser on the outside. The 

 birds usually nest early in April, two broods being pro- 

 duced during the year. 



" The nests," writes Mr. Booth, who was very familiar 

 with the species, "are not unfrequently situated but a few 

 inches above the level of the water, and consequently are 

 extremely liable to be submerged if the tides rise suddenly 

 either from a heavy fall of rain or a flow of salt water up 

 the rivers. In such cases the birds at once commence a 



second nest on the top of their first edifice. 



VOL. i. L 



