THE TITMICE 265 



however, well be given to the rare Bearded Tit^ which 

 loves the waving reeds and the swampy ground, and 

 cannot live away from them. 



There has been so much draining of wet land in this 

 island of ours, in modern times, that the haunts of the 

 Bearded Tit are now few indeed. It was getting rare even 

 in Charles Kingsley's day. Do you remember how he 

 refers to it in his Prose Idyllsl He saw in the presence 

 of this little bird in eastern England a sign and trace of 

 the connection that once existed between this country 

 and the Continent from which the Bearded Tit's ancestors 

 found their way. 



" His central home," says Kingsley, " is in the marshes 

 of Russia and Prussia ; his food the molluscs which swarm 

 among the reed-beds where he builds ; and feeding on 

 these from reed-bed to reed-bed, all across what is now the 

 German Ocean, has come the beautiful little bird with 

 long tail, orange tawny plumage, and black moustache, 

 which might have been seen forty [now eighty] years ago 

 in hundreds on every reed-rond in the Fen." 



One other Titmouse must be mentioned before I close 

 this chapter.' This is the Crested Tit, who is seen but 

 little in these islands, except in the forests which lie 

 along some of the rivers in the Scottish Highlands. Here 

 he is fond of the pines, but on the Continent you will find 

 his nest in oak trees, and in the north of Spain in the 

 cork woods. 



He is a jjretty little fellow, but his crest of black 

 feathers tipped with white can hardly compare with the 

 Sultan Titmouse of Malaya and India, who rejoices in a 

 crest of long yellow feathers. 



1 Strictly speaking, the Bearded Tit is not now considered one of the Titmice, 

 but he is interesting enough to have a place in this chapter. 



