THE BEARDED REEDLING. 141 



Seebohm, whilst he speaks somewhat disparagingly of those who do not believe 

 in the Parine relationship of Panurus, quotes the fact of two hens in confinement 

 laying forty-nine eggs between the 3oth of May and the and of August, a feat 

 such as one might expect from a bird having Ploceine affinities : he also notes the 

 Bunting-like character of its eggt. 



Lord Lilford says, of examples of this genus : " Their actions much resemble 

 those of the true Titmice, from which in many other respects, such as internal 

 structure, nesting habits, colouration of eggs, and voice, they differ very widely." 

 In this he is quite right, with one exception : I never yet saw adult Titmice go 

 to sleep in a row all huddled together, as the Bearded Reedlings do, and as the 

 Astrilds are in the habit of doing ; it must also be remembered that many Ploceine 

 birds are extremely Tit-like in their habits, that the majority of them are reed 

 birds, feeding (precisely in the same way as the Reed- Pheasant) on seeds of reeds 

 and grasses, and small insects. 



Stevenson, in his " Birds of Norfolk," says : " I cannot help feeling, that 

 Macgillivray, guided by an examination of its digestive organs, was right in con- 

 sidering it more allied to the Fringilline than the Parine group." 



Even the fact that this species eats small fresh-water mollusca does not, in 

 any way, militate against its relationship to the Finches, many of which (and 

 especially Ploceine Finches) eat worms with avidity, and would, in a wild state, 

 probably devour small mollusca if they chanced to meet with them : indeed it is 

 probable that the lime required by these little birds when laying is chiefly obtained 

 from the shells of small land-, or fresh-water mollusca. 



Family PANURID^. 



THE BEARDED REEDLING. 



Panurus biarmicus, LINN. 



A LTHOUGH in the main I have judged that I could not do better than 

 \. follow the classification adopted by Mr. Howard Saunders, in his most 

 excellent " Illustrated Manual of British Birds," my conscience is not sufficiently 



VOL. I. 2 B 



