150 0 ?i the Bearded Tits in Confinement.


swinging orchid-basket, changed their minds before the eggs

were laid, and the Tits took possession. I removed the attraction

but too late ; and before I had quite realized how far matters had

gone, first the hen, then the male, gave up feeding and brooding,

and after two days’ partial neglect the little one w T as found stiff

and cold, though in good flesh.


I should have said that though the parents were kept well

supplied with chopped egg, and fresh ants’ eggs ; the young ones

were fed mainly upon mealworms.


The only species of the Genus Panurus , the Bearded Tit

( P. biarmicus ) has for a long time puzzled systematic naturalists.

It has, I believe, been suggested that it shows some affinity to

the group of Waxbills ( Estrelda ). O11 the other hand the nest, if


deep, is open ; and the egg, instead of being colourless, is faintly

streaked and spotted. Neither are the quaint antics played by

some of the male Waxbills while courting their mates (such as

presenting a grass-bent held like a pipe in the beak, at the same

time singing and displaying the plumage) to be observed in the

case of the bird under notice. There is one action of the Bearded

Tit which is quite to me unlike that of any other Passerine bird

that I have watched. The bird runs with rapid jerks upon the,

ground and scratches amongst sand or loose soil. It makes a little

jump forwards, and scuffles with both feet almost simultaneously,

making the sand fly. The object evidently is to uncover morsels

of food, and I see my birds doing this underneath the food

dishes which are mounted up off the ground. I have never been

able to get my Bearded Tits to notice seeds of reeds, though they

have often been supplied with bundles of reeds in the autumn.

The male takes his turn upon the eggs during incubation.



