OTES 



THE NEST AND NESTLINGS OF THE BEARDED TIT. 



While s^jending the Whitsun holidays on Hickhng Broad 

 I had the good fortune to inspect two nests of the Bearded 

 Tit {Panurus hiarmicus) and the following notes thereon may 

 prove of interest. 



Each nest contained six nestlings just showing the first 

 traces of feathers, but no trace whatever of nestling down 

 — a point worth mentioning — further, they had passed the 

 " bhnd " stage, the eyes being fully opened. 



But what I was specially interested in was the coloration 

 and form of the markings of the inside of the mouth, which 

 differed from any description hitherto given, including my own 

 (c/. ante, Vol. I., p. 130). 



Briefly, these markings take the form of four rows of 

 pearly- white, conical, peg-like projections, suggesting the 

 palatal teeth of reptiles, two on either side of the middle line. 

 These tooth-like bodies, which are well shown in the accom- 

 panying photograph, were not of uniform size, and were set 

 in a background of black surrounded by a rich carnelian red, 

 the whole being framed in by the lemon-yellow gape-wattles, 



