VERTEBRATE ANIMALS OF LEICESTERSHIRE. 419 
Fam. Panurip&. 
Panurus biarmicus, Gray. Bearded Tit (“ Reedling ”).—For- 
merly occurring; rare. Being at Elkington’s, a taxidermist, of 
Churchgate, Leicester, on the 8rd October, I found a pair of 
these birds, which he assured me were shot by Greer, of Aylestone 
Park, some ten or twelve years ago, at the “ backwater,’ Bede 
House Meadows, Leicester. Mentioning these to Turner, of 
Harcourt Street, another taxidermist, he said it was no doubt 
the case, as he had received several some eight or nine years ago, 
shot at the reed-beds under the Castle, Leicester, and that he 
always imagined they bred there. 
Fam. Parips. 
Acredula caudata rosea (Blyth). British Long-tailed Tit- 
mouse.—Resident, and generally diffused, especially in thickly- 
wooded tracts, as, for example, the vicinity of Newtown Linford, 
Groby, and Ansty. I have received the nest from Belvoir, 
Braunstone, and Bradgate. 
Parus major, Linn. Great Titmouse.—Resident. Generally 
distributed, and breeding. In June, 1883, I found in an apple 
tree at Aylestone Hall a nest of this species in juxtaposition with 
a nest of the Blue Tit, both containing young. 
Parus ater, Linn. Coal Titmouse.— Resident. Generally 
distributed, and commoner than the following species. 
Parus palustris, Linn. Marsh Titmouse.— Resident, but 
sparingly distributed. It is partial to the willow and alder, in 
the decayed boles and branches of which it nests. It also affects 
the Scotch fir, and other coniferous trees when decayed. I myself 
have no record of its nesting in the county, nor does Davenport 
appear to have as yet discovered it. 
Parus ceruleus, Linn. Blue Titmouse.—Resident, and gene- 
rally distributed. On June 5th, 1883, Davenport found a nest of 
the Blue Titmouse built inside an old nest of the Song Thrush 
in a thorn-bush at Loddington Redditch, containing nine eggs, 
on which the old bird was sitting hard. The Leicester Museum 
possesses a group of nine young ones and the mother bird, taken 
out of a hole in an apple tree at Aylestone in 1888. Mr. Ingram 
showed me a nest built in the mouth of a faun’s head which 
formed a decoration on the base of an urn in the gardens at 
