THE BEAKDED-TIT 



I once rescued two pairs of Dutch bearded-tits from a London 

 dealer; but, unfortunately, they wen- eareles>l\ paekcd, and one of the 

 hens \v;is badlx injured hy a nail left with its j>oint protruding some 

 distance inside the box. and she, consequently, only lived a few days. 

 I put the -urviving male into one cage, and the other pair into 

 another, while ;i x.-etion of my aviary \\as hastily transformed into ;i 

 very tiny inarch. 



During the short time I kept these birds in captivity, they seemed 

 to me (jitite the most affectionate species imaginable. The cock and 

 the hen roosted close together, with all their contour feathers fluffed 

 out, so that they looked like one round fluffy hall. The male always 

 spread one wing over the female, but this was almost hidden in the 

 soft feathery mass. 



When feeding, they frequently scratched on the floor of the 

 aviary, after the manner of barn-door fowls ; perhaps because in the 

 wild they so often hunt for food amongst the ooze. They bathed 

 every day, and always together ; their ablutions over, they would then 

 fly up to a perch and sit huddled up until dry on one side; then 

 reversing their respective positions, they proceeded to dry the other 

 ride, mutual wannth evidently greatly facilitating this process. 



On very cold days they would tunnel several inches into the coarse 

 herbage, and for hours disappear from view entirely. One of these 

 tunnels was considerably over a foot in length, and close to the 

 ground; so that, not being able to see the birds, and discovering 

 this tunnel, I supposed a rat had by some mischance burrowed 

 through the aviary floor and carried them off; but they were safe 

 and warm, nestling together at the far end out of the wind. 



Unfortunately, at the end of two months the hen suddenly 

 dropped dead. I then put the two cocks together, and they lived in 

 the same loving fashion, roosting and bathing in exactly the same way 

 as the pair had done. 



A writer to the Field describes how, when the hen of a pair of 

 bearded-tits which he kept in captivity died, the cock was incon- 



