328 Habits and 'Nidification of the Bearded Titmouse, 



doubt not but we should have had from the hand of this 

 incomparable artist an exquisite tail-piece or two representing 

 the attitude and actions of a frog eating ! And I have still 

 less doubt, that, had he executed the vignettes with his usual 

 truth, spirit, and vivacity, many an inexperienced person 

 would have looked upon them as being rather the burlesque 

 and fanciful offspring of his fertile genius conceived in one of 

 its more facetious moods, than as exact and faithful por- 

 traitures of nature. 



Yours, &c. 



W. T. Bree. 

 Allesley Rectory, December 10. 1829. 



Art. V. Observations on the Habits and Nidification of the Bearded 

 Titmouse (Pdrus bidrmicus L.). By J. D. Hoy, Esq. 



Sir, 

 I HAVE a few remarks to offer you on the habits of the 

 Bearded Titmouse (Parus biarmicus), which may be accept- 

 able to some of your readers ; and I think your correspondent 

 on this subject (Vol. II. p. 222.) will be pleased to hear some- 

 thing farther of its history. The borders of the large pieces 

 of fresh water in Norfolk called Broads, particularly Hickling 

 and Horsey Broads, are the favourite places of resort of this 

 bird ; indeed it is to be met with in tliat neighbourhood wher- 

 ever there are reeds in any quantity, with fenny land adjoin- 

 ing. During the autumn and winter they are found dispersed, 

 generally in small parties, throughout the whole length of the 

 Suffolk coast, wherever there are large tracts of reeds. I 

 have found them numerous, in the breeding season, on the 

 skirts of Whittlesea, near Huntingdonshire, and they are not 

 uncommon in the fenny district of Lincolnshire; whether 

 they are to be met with farther north I have had no means of 

 ascertaining, but they do not appear to have been noticed 

 north of the Humber. It begins building in the end of April. 

 The nest is composed on the outside with the dead leaves of 

 the reed and sedge intermixed with a few pieces of grass, and 

 invariably lined with the top of the reed, somewhat in the 

 manner of the nest of the Reed Wren (S. arundinacea L.\ 

 but not so compact in the interior. It is generally placed in 

 a tuft of coarse grass or rushes near the ground, on the mar- 

 gin of the dikes, in the fen ; also sometimes fixed among the 

 reeds that are broken down, but never suspended between the 

 stems. The eggs vary in number from four to six, rarely 



