NOTES AND QUERIES. 423 



Gurney's most interesting paper on the Bearded Tit (Panurus biarmicus), 

 ante, p. 358. I do not know how Mr. Bird arrived at the conclusion that 

 there were only thirty-three nests in Norfolk in 1898, and I hope he has 

 understated the number, or that they have increased since then. I know 

 one small broad which has been most strictly preserved for some years, and 

 where even the entomologist is not allowed, though it is sometimes difficult 

 to keep him out ! Here the Bearded Tits have increased in a most satis- 

 factory manner. A pair or two might always have been seen. On May 

 7th, 1899, I found a nest with seven young just ready to fly, and there were 

 at least two pairs with young. On May 3rd this year I saw one nest from 

 which the young had just flown, and I watched both parent birds for some 

 time. It was blowing very hard, and as I crouched in the reeds the male 

 bird settled within a few feet; a beautiful sight it was to see him preening 

 his feathers in the sunlight. On another part of the same broad I saw at 

 least three pairs feeding young, or carrying excrement from the nests ; 

 further still I saw other birds feeding in the rushes, and I thought at the 

 time there were at least six pairs on this broad. Quite ten pairs of the Great 

 Crested Grebe (Podicipes cristatus) might have been counted. Over thirty 

 male Wild Ducks rose as we rounded a sharp corner ; several pairs of Shoveler 

 (Spatula clypeata) were nesting, and I had the pleasure of seeing a Marsh- 

 Harrier {Circus (Bruginosus). The keeper assured me he had never seen one 

 of these birds here before. Montagu's Harriers try to rear their young here 

 every year, but the nest is cut out, or the old birds are shot, though this 

 season I have hopes that they got off. A pair of Kestrels were nesting in 

 an old windmill. " They'll 'ave to die," said the keeper. It was no use 

 my telling him that they did far more good than harm, and the fact that he 

 caught two or three of these birds with Mice in their claws at the same spot 

 last season in nowise impressed him ; so I took the eggs, in the hope that 

 the old birds might find more hospitable quarcers elsewhere. I placed the 

 four eggs in an incubator, and one was hatched in twenty-nine days. I never 

 allow Kestrels to be killed at home, unless caught red-handed at the Phea- 

 sant-coops ; and it is a curious fact that whereas each year we are obliged 

 to destroy more thau one of these birds, a pair of Sparrow-Hawks are con- 

 tinually flying over the rearing-field ; neither my keepers nor myself have 

 ever known them touch a Pheasant, though they often take young Sparrows 

 and other small birds that are attracted by the Pheasant food. We never 

 molest them, and I doubt not most keepers would think us quite mad. 

 Whilst in Norfolk I noticed several of those indiscriminate instruments of 

 torture, " pole-traps "; they were not set, and, on asking the reason, I was 

 informed that they had caught five Snipe in them the week previous to my 

 visit. — Heatley Noble (Temple Combe, Henley-on-Thames). 



Nesting of the Great Tit (Parus major).— April 29th. Nesting-box 



