114 OUR RARER BRITISH BREEDING BIRDS. 



a very pretty sight to see her companion plunging 

 into the sea for surface-swimming fry, and feeding 

 her with it as she sits upon her eggs. 



When flushed, the brooding female is not so 

 demonstrative as the Common or Arctic species, 

 although she will fly overhead uttering her sharp, 

 piercing note, which sounds, as nearly as the 

 characters of the alphabet can render it, like pirre. 



It is by no means a difficult matter to sit and 

 watch the bird on to her eggs by the aid of a pair 

 of field-glasses, but walking to the exact spot and 

 finding her treasure is another story. Although 

 one may walk as straight towards the place as a 

 gun-barrel, the alternating ridges of shingle or the 

 absolute flatness of the field soon mislead one as 

 to distance, and even when the precise place has 

 been reached, the eggs harmonise so wonderfully 

 with the millions of pebbles lying around them, 

 that they are exceedingly difficult to detect by 

 the unpractised eye. 



They number two to four, and their small size 

 and bold markings readily distinguish them from 

 those of the other members of the Tern family. 



TIT, BEARDED. 



IT was reported that the severe winter of 1894-5 

 had extirpated both the Bearded Tit and the 

 Dartford Warbler, but luckily such is by no 

 means the case in either instance. 



Drainage and the thoughtless greed of the 

 collector have played such havoc with the species 

 under notice, that during the last forty years it 

 has in the Norfolk Broad district its headquarters, 



