1 88 THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



I am of opinion that this bird is only distantly 

 related to the Titmice, in many of its habits it 

 reminds you of those restless birds. All along 

 the thicket you may follow them as they flit 

 before you one after the other, now in full view, 

 anon lost among the stems, the only sign of their 

 presence being their by no means loud call-notes. 

 The food of this bird in summer is composed 

 of insects, and in winter principally of small seeds. 

 The nest is made of dry grass and bits of reed, 

 and often lined with the flowers of the latter. 

 It is placed under a tuft of aquatic herbage or 

 amongst the rushes on the drier ground. The 

 eggs are five or six in number, yellowish white 

 in ground colour, streaked and speckled with 

 irregular lines of dark brown. 

 widely Within these fens and marshes the SHORT- 



distributed, .-. , , 



but local. EARED OWL (btmx orachyotus) also brings up its 

 young. This bird is as much a dweller on the 

 moors as the marshes, but as we are certain of 

 meeting him on the Broads, and as those places 

 are more accessible to the majority of observers, 

 it is perhaps wisest to deal with its economy 

 during our present ramble. It may readily be 

 distinguished by the longitudinal streaks on the 

 lower parts and its short ear-tufts. It is one of 

 the most diurnal of the Owls, and may often be 

 seen hunting the marshy flats and rough broken 

 ground in the full glare of noonday. Mice and 

 other small mammals, and frogs, are its favourite 

 food. In the method of its nesting it differs con- 

 siderably from its congeners. Its nest is made 

 upon the ground, usually on some little hillock in 

 the marshes, or amongst the heather on the moors, 

 and not unfrequently in a very bare and exposed 



