OF THE BEARDED TIT 171 



come in the full expectation of seeing both birds and 

 nests, and were, if anything, rather encouraged than 

 otherwise when the keeper in the pessimistic tone 

 common to men of his order when conscious that there 

 is an unusually good head of game in front of the 

 guns told us that, though there was a nice lot of reeds 

 uncut, he ' doubted ' we should not find any Tits, as to 

 the best of his belief there was not one of them left in 

 the place. 



But before an enjoyable day was over his words had 

 acquired a different meaning. We tramped the marsh, 

 which teamed with other bird-life, backwards and 

 forwards. Twice we flushed a Mallard from a nest well 

 filled with eggs. One nest, with a clutch of ten, was 

 downed almost as thickly as an Eider Duck's, with a 

 well- trampled path like a miniature sheep-walk leading 

 from it to the water's edge. From behind a stook of 

 reed-sheafs we watched for ten minutes a pair of Teal 

 playing together unobserved, as they supposed in a 

 rushy pond close by. 



Shovellers, with fantastic colouring and great flat 

 beaks out of all proportion to the size of the bird, rose 

 more than once within a few yards of us, and, after 

 circling once or twice, pitched again not far off'. 



Tired-looking Swallows sat disconsolately in parties 

 of five or six on bushes, or rose to skim over the water 

 in a half-hearted way, and light again. 



A pair of Redshanks crossed once or twice, flying 

 in line, one just behind the other, whistling loudly as 

 they flew. Cuckoos called, and overhead Snipe poised 



