64 BEARDED TIT. 



to meet with, as it seems fast becoming extinct, but 

 it still occurs in sufficient numbers to deserve a short 

 account. It is most likely to be met with in the 

 eastern counties, especially about the Broads in 

 Norfolk. In Hampshire we have notes of several 

 nests at Bournemouth and Havant, but all long ago. 

 It is sometimes called the Least Butcher Bird, as 

 it seems to partake of some of the characteristics 

 of the Shrikes. It has the same lively and restless 

 habits as the other Tits, but may easily be distin- 



BEARDED TIT. 



guished from them by its long tail, brown back, and 

 beard-like tuft of feathers on its chin. The male bird 

 also has a pair of black moustachios on its cheeks, 

 giving it rather a ferocious look. Its appearance 

 is far more like that of a foreign bird, and one would 

 hardly suppose it was an English resident all the year 

 round. 



In its nest and the position it chooses for it, it re- 

 minds one of the Reed Warbler. It builds in April, 

 the nest being made of the dead leaves of the reed 

 and sedge, with a few pieces of grass, and always 



