40 BRITISH BIRDS 
brown and a few underlying violet marks. Unspotted or 
finely spotted eggs occur. Av. size, ‘75x°56 in. Laying 
begins April-May. One brood usual. 
(15) Family : Panuride 
76. Bearded-tit [Panurus biarmicus biarmicus (Linneus)]. 
Stationary in the Norfolk Broad district, and rarely occurs 
outside it except in one or two places. 
Bird. Length 6j in. Recognised at all seasons by the long 
rounded tail, the deep tawny hue of the upper-parts and flanks, 
and the small yellow beak. The male has the head bluish-grey 
with a pointed tuft or “moustache” of black feathers depend- 
ing from between the eye and the beak. The outer tail- 
feathers have white ends. Under-parts mostly greyish-white 
with a rosy tinge. Under tail-coverts black. The female lacks 
the “moustache ” and the black under tail-coverts; her head 
is tawny, passing below into greyish-white, and her back more 
or less lined with black. 
Nest. Place: reed-bed or marsh, usually among the stems 
of reed-mace, reed, or sedge. Material: generally reed-blades 
lined with the flowering heads of the reed, and occasionally 
feathers, 
iggs. Usually 5-7. White “with streaks, scrawls, or spots 
of liver brown.” Av. size, 67x °54in. Laying begins in April. 
Broods 3-4. 
(16) Family : Laniide—Shrikes 
77. Redbacked-shrike, butcher-bird [Lanius collurio collurie 
Linneeus]. Summer visitor, chiefly to south and central 
England and Wales. Bird of passage. 
Bird. Length 7 in. Only the adult male has the back red, 
a that ofthe female being dullbrownish- 
chestnut, and that of the young 
barred with black on red or reddish- 
grey. The male has the top of the 
head and neck grey, and a conspicuous 
black band running backwards and 
forwards from the corner of the eyes. 
The rump is ash-grey. The tail has 
the centre feathers black, the outer 
| black and white. The under-parts 
Fig, 44 are white with a rosy-buff tint on the 
peas breast. The wing quills mostly dark 
brown. Bill thick and hooked. The female is much less 
brilliant. The back as above stated. The under-parts are dull 
