BEARDED TITMOUSE 



Panurus biarmicus 



)LTHOUGH the Bearded Tit has been subjected to incessant 

 persecution by bird-fanciers and egg-collectors, it still breeds 

 in the fen districts of Norfolk, and strays, during autumn 

 and winter, to many of the surrounding counties. 



The huge tracts of reeds found in the Broads are 

 particularly adapted to the requirements of this beautiful 

 bird, as it is entirely a bird of the reeds. Its food consists 

 chiefly of the seed of the reed, but small flies and insects of all kinds are 

 devoured greedily. In the autumn, when flocks of these birds wander from 

 their haunts, they feed on grubs, insects, and the seed of various grasses. 



On my visit to the Broads in the middle of May I had ample leisure to 

 admire this beautiful bird as we punted our boat through the lanes of open 

 water which wind about among the vast beds of reeds. Once or twice I caught 

 sight of one of these birds clinging to an upright reed, and saw them flit across 

 the channel with a curious undulating flight, but it was not until we landed 

 and began to walk quietly about among the tall reeds and sedges growing 

 beneath that I really had an opportunity of watching their habits. They were 

 very tame, and I stood and watched a pair chasing the flies and hunting up 

 the reed stems for small insects. Their mode of procedure reminded me of the 

 Creeper: they would start at the foot of some tall reed stem and work their 

 way right up to the flower, which they examined all over; then they would 

 drop down to the bottom of the next, work up it, and so on. I saw one 

 flying over the top of the reeds, dancing about like a huge dragon-fly. Their 

 call-note is a clear, musical * tang ' or 'ting,' like striking a piece of metal with 

 some hard substance, and I heard one of the males utter a short, monotonous 

 song rather like that of the Coal Tit, ' zee-zee-chui-c //*',' or ' chee-chce-zu-zu-chtii* 

 VOL. ii. 2 N 133 



