372 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Here the eggs were laid early in the morning, and when the 

 birds had left the nest he invariably found that the lining was 

 pulled over the eggs. Many eggs were laid, two hens laying 

 more than fifty in one summer, a fair proportion of which in a 

 wild state would have been hatched. 



Mr. Young thinks they might be hatched, and even the young 

 reared in confinement, by supplying the old birds with the pupae 

 of the common blow-fly, which he has found to answer with 

 Siskins, and fresh ants' eggs would probably be useful. He kept 

 one nearly five years. Mr. Lowne, of Yarmouth, a well known 

 prize-taker at bird shows, reared six Bearded Tits from the nest 

 on dry ants' eggs with hard-boiled egg well sieved, but they were 

 pugnacious enough to pull each other's tails out, and had to be 

 separated. 



Another correspondent, Mr. J. L. Bonhote, had a pair three 

 years, and kept them in an outdoor avairy through the hard winter 

 of 1895. In 1896 the hen built a nest with materials brought her 

 by the cock, and, commencing on April 14th, laid a clutch of 

 seven eggs, two of which were hatched on the thirteenth day, 

 and the young grew well, but died suddenly on the seventh day 

 when beginning to shoot their feathers.* 



Former Breeding Area. 



In the accompanying Map (PI. V.) the pink colour is intended 

 to show where this species formerly bred in England, an area which 

 must always have coincided with the reed beds suitable to its 

 requirements, which, prior to the draining of the great Bedford 

 Level in the early part of the seventeenth century, were much 

 more extensive than they are now. Of the nineteen spots 

 marked pink in the map, only one is still a breeding-place at the 

 present day, which is a somewhat sad reflection ; while the old 

 haunts on the Thames have long been deserted, though still 

 sometimes referred to in books. 



As it is a good plan to summarise what is known about any 

 British bird's distribution (as Fatio and Studer are doing for 

 Switzerland and Ternier for France), I have given at some length, 



* Mr. Bonhote has just published an article on this subject (cf. ' Avi- 

 cultural Magazine ' for August. 



