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frequently known their nest completed, and the full complement of eggs laid, by the 7th and 8th 
of April, and others hard sat upon by the 17th, which would carry back the commencement of 
the nests to about the last week in March. I think, therefore, that the beginning of April may 
fairly be considered the average time, as the instances I have given were in no way referable to 
any particular mildness in the season, but occurred even when snow and frost prevailed later 
than usual. The nests are generally placed amongst the reed-stems, close to the water's edge, 
supported on the loose herbage that forms the foundation of the reed-beds, but never in any way 
suspended. ‘The materials consist of the dead leaves of the sedge and reed loosely interwoven 
on the outside, whilst the feathery top of the reed forms the only lining. As soon as the 
breeding-season is over, these birds collect together in flocks, and perform short migratory trips 
from one broad to another in search of food, sometimes in sharp weather as many as forty and 
fifty together; and I am assured by the broad-men that even larger flights are occasionally seen. 
In the Cley and Blakeney marshes, near the sea-coast, the Rev. E. W. Dowell has observed this 
species in small numbers on two occasions, but only in the months of October and November ; 
and as these were not seen throughout the winter, and I am not aware that their nests have been 
found in that neighbourhood, I should consider them as merely roving flocks, attracted by the 
reeds on the tidal marshes. 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 over head 
being indicated by the clear ringing sound 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 morn- 
ing’s 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 
amongst the reed-stems, as lively and musical as ever.. It is greatly to be regretted that the 
demand for specimens, from their handsome plumage, should lead to the wholesale slaughter of 
the Bearded Tits throughout the winter; added to which, the price of late years offered for their 
eggs has caused a sensible diminution in their numbers. After the mild winter of 1862-63 these 
birds were more than usually plentiful at Hickling in the following spring, and from this locality 
alone about five dozen eggs were procured by one individual, nominally a collector, but in reality 
a dealer, who thus, for the sake of a few shillings, would go far towards exterminating this 
beautiful species (many old birds being also killed at the time), whose numbers we have no 
reason to suppose are replenished by Continental migrants. Already in one or two districts, 
where only a few years back they were very plentiful, scarcely a pair or two, to my knowledge, 
can now be found in the breeding-season. Happily our more common and useful species are, by 
recent legislation, protected in some degree from wholesale and indiscriminate slaughter; can 
no law be made applicable to the preservation of other indigenous and ornamental races, whose 
extinction would be a source of regret to every lover of nature? From inquiries made amongst 
the older broad-men in different localities, I find no reason to believe that these birds, as has 
been occasionally remarked, were not known in this county till of late years; and in Sir William 
Hooker’s MS., the entries in which were made some fifty or sixty years ago, I find the following 
note :—‘ This beautiful bird is by no means unfrequent in the reedy parts of Surlingham Broad, 
$2 
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