BEARDED TITMOUSE. 515 



> 



though not typical, Titmouse, related, as Mr. Swinhoe some 

 time ago suggested to him, to Suthora, but altogether nearer 

 to Parus than to any of the exotic genera (Suthora, Liothrix 

 and Cyclorhis) examined by him. Where osteology fails to 

 determine the kindred of a genus, as happens in many of the 

 comparatively-uniform Passer es, other characters become of 

 greater weight, and on the whole the Editor deems he is 

 justified in referring this bird to a distinct family, as families 

 are commonly accepted in that Order. 



From the generally inaccessible nature of reed-beds growing 

 at the sides of rivers and other inland waters the places 

 mostly frequented by this species, its habits were for a long 

 time little watched and therefore little known ; but they are 

 now very fairly understood. The nest and eggs were first 

 described and figured by Nozeman, who, in June, 1779, dis- 

 covered that the bird bred in Holland, but his account was 

 neglected by most subsequent authors. In 1826 two of its 

 nests with their eggs, found at Horsey in Norfolk, were sent 

 to the Author of this work (Zool. Journ. iii. pp. 85, 86), and 



were probably the first ever taken in this country. These 

 nests were placed near the ground, being sustained only an 

 inch or two above the surface by the coarse grass-stems on 

 which they were fixed, and were composed entirely of dry 

 bents, the finer ones forming the lining and others increasing 



