50 
2 
with white on the outer web; quills brownish, the primaries edged along the outer web with white, 
the secondaries margined with fawn, excepting the inner web of the dorsal quills, which are white; tail 
deep rusty red, almost amounting to chestnut, the external feathers tipped with grey, which colour 
forms an edging to the two outermost feathers ; throat and upper breast greyish white, the sides of the 
latter suffused with a delicate blush of pink; sides of the body rich fawn; centre of the abdomen 
fulvous white; vent and under tail-coverts jet black; under wing-coverts white; bill orange-yellow ; 
feet black ; eye orange-yellow. ‘Total length 6 inches, culmen 0°35, wing 2°35, tail 3:3, tarsus 0°75. 
Female. Greyish fawn above, slightly tinged with brighter rufous here and there; the rest of the upper 
surface of the body as in the male, but not nearly so bright, and the scapulars and edgings to the 
secondaries greyish white, with a strong tinge of fulvous ; lores and cheeks dirty white; throat and 
centre of the body greyish white ; otherwise coloured as in the male, but has not the moustachial stripe, 
and the under tail-coverts fawn instead of black. 
Young. Exactly similar to the adult female, but has the crown laterally striped with black, as also the 
the centre of the back, where the stripes are very distinct ; the bill horn-brown, tinged with yellow, 
more especially on the lower mandible. 
Young in down. General colour very pale buff; the entire centre of the back jet-black; the wing-coverts 
and quills black, tipped with buff, the black predominating ; tail for the most part black, but the centre 
tail-feathers fawn; under surface of the body fulvous, the sides and flanks rich fawn; bill dull horn- 
brown ; feet yellowish. 
Tue Bearded Reedling is found in nearly every country of Europe, but only in localities suitable 
to its habits. Mr. G. R. Gray, in his recent ‘ Hand-list,’ has made mention of a second species of 
Calamophilus from Kamschatka, which he calls “‘C. sibiricus, Bp.” No reference is given whereby 
we may be able to examine the original description; and we regret that we have been unable to 
find the work in which it has been published. This is only one out of a thousand instances where 
the ‘ Hand-list’ fails to assist the student; and we must regret that the labour bestowed on this 
stupendous compilation has not resulted in a benefit for the working ornithologist. We cannot 
help thinking that there must have been some mistake with regard to this species of the late Prince 
Bonaparte, as no Calamophilus has ever been discovered in the vast tracts of country explored by 
the Russian naturalists. 
In England the Bearded Reedling, always a local bird, has of late years become still more 
localized in its habitat, as modern improvements have encroached on its favourite haunts. 
Mr. A. G. More gives its distribution in the British Islands as follows :— 
“A very local species, apparently now restricted to a few localities in Norfolk and Suffolk, 
and to the reed-beds along the banks of the Thames. Still breeds in Surrey (Rev. J. C. Atkinson), 
and probably in Essex (where the bird has been noticed), in Kast Suffolk (Rev. J. Farr), in Norfolk 
(Mr. H. Stevenson), and possibly in Lincolnshire, which is one of the five counties mentioned by 
Hewitson. Extinct in Sussex (Mr. Know); extinct also in Cambridgeshire and Huntingdon (Ir. 
Ff. Bond). Kent, Gloucester, and Cowbet in Lancashire are given as localities by Montagu; 
and Mr. Waterton tells me that a pair once built by the side of the lake at Walton Hall.” 
It can only of late years have become extinct in Sussex; for Mr. Knox, writing in 1849, said 
