BEARDED TITMOUSE. 183 



much similarity ; they are found (except during 

 the breeding time) in small troops, feeding and 

 clinging among the reeds in every attitude, and 

 following each other by responding cries ; so 

 tame and engrossed with their occupation, as to 

 be taken with a bird-lime twig attached to a 

 fishing-rod. They flit just above the the tops of 

 the reeds,* and are not easily discerned except by 

 one accustomed to their haunts and cries. Their 

 parties are sometimes said to be extended to small 

 flocks,-)- which is not usual with the pari, their 

 troops never exceeding the number of their brood. 



The reed beds on the banks of the Thames 

 seem to be the most abundant and best known 

 locality for the Bearded Titmouse. Cambridge- 

 shire, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire, also 

 possess it, and its most northern range in Britain is 

 Lancashire. One specimen only is recorded from 

 Ireland, while in Scotland no traces have ever been 

 heard or seen of it. In Holland they are fre- 

 quent ; but perhaps are not elsewhere abundant 

 on the Continent, and their occurrence in some of 

 the northern countries seems scarcely well authen- 

 ticated. According to Temminck, it is found on 

 the borders of the Black and Caspian Seas. 



The male is a graceful and vcfiastely coloured 

 bird. The bill is orange yellow, and the irides 

 are bright and shining gamboge yellow. Before 

 and below the eyes the feathers are jetty black, 

 and those placed lowest are elongated for half an 



* Hoy, London's Mag. of Nat Hist. iii. p. 329. 



t Dykes, in London's Mag. of Nat. Hist. iii. p. 329. 



