BEARDED TIT. 493 



the most rufous, those from Holland are somewhat paler ; examples from 

 Transylvania are still more so ; but those from Central Asia are the palest 

 of all. Compared with British skins, this pale eastern race, to which 

 Bonaparte gave the name of Panurus sibiricus (Calamophilus sibiricus, 

 Bonap. Compt. Rend. 1856, p. 414), is an excellent species ; but the inter- 

 mediate forms from the intervening localities compel us to consider the 

 difference between them only subspecific*. 



The Bearded Tit, as much as the Reed- Warbler or Savi's Warbler, and 

 much more than the Reed-Bunting, is a bird of the reeds. In the Broads 

 it is called the Reed-Pheasant from its pheasant-like tail ; and by writers 

 who for some reason or other think it is not one of the Parinae, it is often 

 called the Bearded Reedling. The reed-beds of the Broads are particularly 

 adapted to the requirements of this remarkable-looking bird, and also 

 afford excellent opportunities for watching its habits. You can quietly 

 punt down the stream that winds through the reed-beds ; and where it 

 widens into a broad you can force your way amongst the reeds in many 

 directions ; and where the stream is narrow you can land on the banks 

 and wade far into the marshes on either side. The time to choose for a 

 visit is the last half of April. The earliest date at which eggs are laid is, 

 according to Stephenson, the first week in April ; but the Bearded Tit 

 has probably two broods, as I have eggs taken in the second week of June. 

 When I was there on the 15th of May, the young were already hatched. 

 We landed within a few yards of a nest of these charming birds ; it con- 

 tained three young ones, an egg in the process of hatching, and a rotten 

 egg. It is very important to have a calm day for studying the habits of 

 the Bearded Tit. Its long tail is sadly in the way in windy weather, and 

 forces it to keep almost entirely to the shelter of the reeds. Unfortunately 

 a light breeze had sprung up during the morning, which also prevented us 

 from hearing the notes of the parent birds as well as we otherwise should 

 have done. Of course, so late in the breeding-season, we did not expect 

 to hear the song, which is said to be only a few simple notes, something 

 like those of the Blue Tit. The call-note appeared to be a musical ping, 

 ping, something like the twang of a banjo. The alarm -note is said to be a 

 chir-r-r-r, something like the scold of a Whitethroat. The cry of distress 



* There seem* to be a conspiracy to deprive Bonaparte of the merit of his discovery 

 altogether. The editors of the continuation of the Appendix to Nauunnn's ' Birds of 

 Germany/ published after the death of the great ornithologist, say that the example which 

 Bonaparte described was only a young bird of the Common Bearded Tit ; and Dr. Gadow 

 in his volume of the British-Museum < Catalogue,' containing the Tits, regards the pale 

 examples obtained by Finsch as birds in abraded summer plumage, and moulting on the 

 2nd of June I If it is possible that this is the case (of which, after a careful examination 

 of the skins, I can see no evidence), it would be best to remove the Bearded Tit at once 

 to the Warblers. 



