454 PERCHING BIRDS. 



the upper part of a long cleft between two large branches, to the base of which a 



pouch twice or three times as long as the jar itself was attached perpendicularly, 



filling up the face of the fork between the branches ; the entrance hole being the 



mouth of the jar. This nest was built of moss closely covered with pieces of 



lichen. An early breeder, this tit lays from ten to fourteen white eggs, spotted 



with red ; the young being sometimes hatched as early as the month of April. 



Both the old birds participate in the labours of incubation, and we have known 



the young of this species reared from the nest by hand. Indeed, long-tailed tits 



have been kept in confinement for no less a period than two years. The method 



of treatment was to confine these birds between large double windows where ivy 



was growing, on the leaves of which numbers of plant-lice were found, and upon 



these the freshly caught tits fed, and by degrees got accustomed to confinement, 



and would take ants' eggs and other food. About a dozen species of the genus are 



now known ; the most recently discovered being the Macedonian long-tailed tit. 



Possessing a black chin, this tit otherwise resembles the British long-tailed tit with 



black instead of white lores. Irby's long-tailed tit inhabits Spain and Italy, while 



the Turkish long-tailed tit resembles the last-named in having the centre of the 



back grey and not black, but differs in the presence of a large blackish patch on 



the centre of the throat. A sixth species inhabits the northern slopes of the 



Caucasus, and has the forehead pale brownish, and the sides of the crown brown 



instead of black. The adult has the whole of the head snowy white, the hind-part 



of the neck deep black, the sides of the back and scapulars vinous red, the wings 



and tail black and white, and the under-parts whitish tinged with pink. 



The single representative of this genus, Panurus, possesses a 

 The Bearded Tit. & . . r & » > i 



short, subcorneal bill ; the wing has the first primary very minute, 



the tail is long and graduated, the metatarsus is also long, and the feet are com- 

 paratively stout ; but the distinctive character is the elongation of the feathers of 

 the sides of the throat into a moustache. The bearded tit (P. biarmicus) is peculiar 

 to Central and North Europe in its typical form, being replaced in Central Asia 

 by a paler variety. Throughout its range it haunts large reed-beds and marshes. 

 Norfolk was formerly its home, and a few pairs still breed in some of 

 the more favoured parts of the broads ; Mr. Stevenson writing that " when 

 shooting at Surlingham, in the winter months, I have more than once 

 observed the arrival of a flock from some neighbouring broad, their presence 

 overhead being indicated by the clear ringing of their silvery notes uttered 

 preparatory to their pitching into the nearest reed-bed; and in autumn, after 

 roosting in small parties on the reeds, they will fly up simultaneously soon after 

 sunrise, swarming for a while like a flock of bees, and uttering in full chorus their 

 pretty song, disperse themselves over the reed-beds for their morning meal. 

 Delicate as these little creatures appear, I have found them during the sharpest 

 frosts, when the snipe had left the half - frozen waters for upland springs and 

 drains, still busy among the reed -stems as lively and musical as ever." The 

 writer also says that he has often found the nests completed by the end of the 

 first week of April. These are generally placed amongst the reed-stems close 

 to the edge of the water, supported on the loose herbage forming the foundation of 

 the reed-beds, but never in any way suspended; they are constructed of the 



