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wrong place. Not having gone into the question I shall not

venture to contradict or confirm any of the above statements,

but will merely notice, in the course of this article, any other

birds of which its habits may remind me.


This species is widely distributed in suitable localities,

viz: large reed beds, from England to Central Asia, not being

found north of the Baltic. The nest is placed on the ground,

and is built of reeds and sedge leaves, woven together, and lined

with the flower of the reed. The eggs, about six in number, are

white, sprinkled with small black markings, and two broods are

generally reared in the season. As a British bird, the Bearded

Reedling is now practically restricted to parts of Norfolk, where

it nests annually, though in steadily decreasing numbers ; fifty

years ago, writes Mr. Gurney, the number fof nests in one year

was estimated at one hundred and sixty, while now, at the most

thirty-three pairs bring off their young, the cause of the decrease

being chieffy due to the slow but sure “ growing up of the East

Anglian Broads,” and also to the systematic trade in their eggs

for collectors. Now however, owing to the protection afforded

to both birds and eggs by law, as well as to the efforts of several

gentlemen interested in their country’s avifauna, one has reason

to hope that the decrease may be arrested, and that the Bearded

Reedling may long continue an inhabitant of our somewhat

inhospitable marshes.


Eet us now consider this bird from an avicultural point of

view, and without exception it is, I think, the nicest of all small

cage birds. It is by no means easy to keep alive for long in a

cage and requires a great variety of food ; the longest period I

ever kept one was for two and a half years, having kept several

others at different times with very indifferent luck. Strange to

say the chief thing they suffer from in captivity is too much

warmth, and they never seem to do well in a heated place, for they

lose all their feathers, take cold and die ; while on the other hand,

a pair in my possession never looked in better trim than during

the severe frost of Feb., 1895, when we had six weeks’ continual

frost with thermometer several times below zero.


They w^ere kept by themselves in a cage 2ft. by 18 inches,

2ft. high, exposed to the south and west but sheltered on the

other aspects, and roofed in ; half the cage was clear, but the

other half covered with a layer of cement, in which were placed,

upright, the tops of reeds which were renewed twice yearly.

Several reeds were purposely broken half-way up, and bent so as

to form horizontal perches, and every night they regularly



