212 The Brccdh/g of the Bearded Tit. 
lovcable. They looked very much like a very old shiny 
black kid-glove. There were several more attempts, but the 
only serious attomj)!, occurred on July 17th, when a nest of 
three Keedlings again hatched out. One infant quickly suc- 
cumbed, but by dint of chopped mealworms anri plenty of 
Yorkshire cheese the other two sui'vivcd for about seven 
days, when the second died and I removed it— it was then 
in the black kid-glove stage and seemed to be thriving. This 
nest was made in a rush nest, again in the coi-ner facing the 
light. On July 28th 1 had a good look at the remaining 
youngster. The eyes were 02)en and one could see a dis- 
tinct reddish-brown stripe along the back; black primary quills, 
dark crown, and a dark indication pf the tail. Two days 
later the baby Reedling fell out of the nest and thou'gh 
apparently unhurt died the next day (July 31st), aged exactly 
fifteen days. The young bird Avas then nearly full grown, 
the feathers being well developed. Feet and legs 3'cllo\v and 
rather large; beak smallish and tlesh-coloured; gape yellow. 
J'eathers on crown brownish with dark central streak; vving- 
feathers dark brown; body feathers light reddi>h-brown ; tail- 
feathers dark blackish -brown. All the ftiathers well developed 
and no doubt the bird would have flown in a day or t^vo. 
Thus ended my hopes of success for 1914. 
With the advent of 1915 I had five pairs of birds 
in an aviary with' a jsair of Long-tailed Tits, and an assort- 
ment of Canaries and Goldfinches. These last proved a perfect 
pest. They monopoILs^ed all the best nests, destroyed the 
Reedlings' nests and made themselves vefy objectionable. So 
I removed all but the Long -tailed Tits, and things improved 
at once. My first pair of Heedlings to nest started opera- 
tions on April 18th, and by Ai^ril 22nd had laid ftvei eggs. 
The egg^ proved to be infertile, however. Several attempts 
were made at nesting, but all were spoilt by the Canaries, 
so in June 1 decided, as already mentioned, to turn the 
Canaries out. 
During May and June I had several nests, but nothing 
more than chicks up to seven days' old and I began to 
despair, and nearly began to lose interest in Recti - 
lings. However, I must record one rather human, little 
peculiarity. I noticed that when the hen fed the young ahe 
