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advantage of direct observation. Every evening about twilight the unhappy male exhibits every 
proof of greatly distressed sentiments; he has lost his liveliness, and does not forget his mate. 
“When sleeping they creep very close together, and one lays its wing on the back of the 
other. If one happens to go out of its cage (which I sometimes allow them to do), the other is 
immediately after it; and no greater alarm can be than when one is separated from the other, 
no greater joy than when they are together again. Rarely does a Bearded Titmouse clean or 
arrange its own feathers: the male looks continually after the female, the female after the 
male; if a feather is turned or out of its place in one, the other immediately redresses it. 
Often they nibble each others heads; and especially the male bestows this kind of gallantry 
upon the female. When the latter feels inclined to be petted, it comes near its mate and puts 
the head a little downwards, which is no sooner done than the required attention is performed 
by its companion.” 
Mr. John Henry Gurney, jun., who is particularly devoting his attention to the study of 
British birds, has sent us some extracts from his note-book :— 
“T have bought specimens in Leadenhall market, and find that Dutch examples are larger 
than English ones. All the females which I have seen have had some trace of the black mark- 
ings on the back, which, however, seems to be entirely lost in the adult male. Yarrell makes 
the moustache double, which is quite a mistake, as pointed out by Mr. Blyth, who did the outline 
for the picture; and in the description of the female he omits to say that the head is spotted 
with black. 
“In the few visits I have paid to the droads I never met with any, though I once saw six 
brought into Sayer’s shop in Norwich; they are notorious for roving in winter. I was told the 
name of a man of independent property who advertised great numbers of their eggs for sale in 
the ‘ Zoologist, which he got from Surlingham, thus for the sake of a few shillings going far to 
exterminate the species. This famous broad is well depicted in Stevenson’s ‘ Birds of Norfolk.’ 
On my last visit there I was told by Trent, the marshman, that Bearded Tits were very tame, and 
he once shot sixty for a Mr. Sexton, the agent or foreman of a London taxidermist. The wanton 
destruction to which this species has been subjected has been loudly spoken against by many 
writers. The same marshman had once taken sixty eggs for a well-known Yarmouth collector. 
“Though never got in Durham, the Bearded Titmouse has occurred in Cleveland, which is 
just on the other side of the Tees (Zool. 1135). 
“Sir Thomas Brown, of Norwich, sent Ray a picture representing ‘a little bird of a tawny 
colour on the back, and a blue head, yellow bill, black legs, shot in an osier car, called by Sir 
Thomas, for distinction’s sake, Sibrella, which I have no doubt was a male Bearded Titmouse, 
though the moustache is not mentioned. I believe this passage is in ‘A collection of English 
words not generally used; with catalogues of English birds and fishes, by Ray, 1674. At all 
events it is an extremely early reference to the bird, and has never been taken notice of. Some 
of our early authors, and particularly Edwards, call this bird the ‘ Least Butcher Bird;’ and our 
later ones place it next to the Waxwing ; but its affinities I consider are really with the Reed- 
Bunting, as shown by Macgillivray. 
““M. Buchillot informed me that Malherbe was the first to add the Bearded Tit to the fauna 
of Lorraine. According to Fournel they have been several times seen at Longeville (‘ Faune de 
la Moselle,’ p. 196), which is where he shot them. It has been killed as near London as 
