456 THE BEAEDED TIT. 



178. THE BEAEDED TIT. 



Parus Biarmicus, LIN. Mesange Barbue ou Moustache, BUF. Die 

 Bartmeise, BECH. 



Description. This handsome bird, which is about the size 

 of the Ox-eye, measures six inches and a half in length, and 

 ten inches and a quarter from tip to tip of the expanded wings. 

 The beak is four lines long, and somewhat curved at the point, 

 in colour orange, and surrounded by black bristles. The fore- 

 head is yellow ; the feet black, and one inch in height. The 

 head is light grey ; and beneath the eye is a conical tuft of 

 black feathers, almost like a moustache, from which the bird 

 derives its name. The nape of the neck and upper part of the 

 back are orange ; the throat is white ; the breast flesh-colour ; 

 the belly, sides, and thighs, like the back, but of a somewhat 

 lighter shade ; the vent black. The tail is three inches and 

 three quarters in length, wedge-shaped, and orange. The 

 outer feather is darker at the root, and almost white at the 

 point, and the third is also tipped with white. 



The female may be distinguished from the male by the ab- 

 sence of the moustache. The top of the head is rusty red, 

 spotted with black ; and the vent feathers are of the same co- 

 lour as the breast and belly. 



Habitat. The Bearded Tit is a native of Germany, and is 

 found in the neighbourhood of lakes and marshes, or, indeed, 

 wherever there is an abundance of reeds and rushes. It is 

 rarely seen in summer, at which season it retreats, in pairs, 

 into the depths of the morasses ; but in winter it assembles in 

 small flocks, which scour the open country in search of food. 

 In coniinement, it may be allowed either to range the room, or 

 may be kept in a large cage. 



Food. It eats various kinds of insects, especially the aquatic 

 species, and the seeds of the common rush (Arundo Phrag- 

 mites, LIN.) When first caught, it should be fed on poppy- 

 seed, ants' eggs, and meal worms ; but is afterwards content 

 with crushed hemp seed, and the usual food of the aviary. 



Breeding. On this head we have but little information to 

 offer. The nest of the Bearded Tit is fixed among the reed- 

 stalks ; is purse-shaped, and composed of grass-stalks and 

 vegetable wool. The eggs, which are pale red, with spots of 



