of the Bearded Tit. 83 



snail-shells have been taken from the crop of one 

 Bearded Tit. 



We wonder now why good people should have been 

 so much alarmed as once they were at the doctrines 

 of " development." It is the teaching of the Parable 

 of the Talents extended from the spiritual to the 

 physical world powers neglected or abused with- 

 drawn, others well used increased. 



The shape and colour of the Bearded Tit are as 

 specially adapted as is its stomach to the peculiarities 

 of its surroundings. 



Visitors to the Broads in midsummer who may 

 have caught glimpses of the bird, showing itself for a 

 minute or two at a time, a conspicuous object against 

 the green of the young rushes, may find it difficult to 

 realise that the Bearded Tit is, when invisibility is of 

 most importance to it, protected by colour and form 

 scarcely less perfectly for all practical purposes than 

 are leaf-insects, or stick-caterpillars, or the wonderful 

 creatures described by Professor Drummond in his 

 " Tropical Africa." 



But such is the case. The eggs are laid about the 

 middle or end of April, when the tall reeds, among 

 which the nest is built an inch or two from the 

 ground, are ripe for cutting. 



The prevailing tints of the entire district land, 

 water, and sky are then the cinnamons, straw 

 colours, and pale blue greys, miraculously reproduced 

 in the feathers of the bird, which might pass for the 

 emancipated spirit of the dead reeds of last summer. 

 The long tail, with its pointed end, hangs down as its 

 owner comes in sight for a moment to look about 

 him, the counterfeit presentment of a faded frond of 

 the stalk he grips, one foot below the other. 



The Hoopoes, as the legend goes, wear their 



