The Breeding of the Bearded Tit. 213 
lingered over the task as loiip as possible and would not 
let the eock in, as if fondling'- and yazin^j at her halvies to see 
if they were real and really alive. 'i'h(> cock bird, however, 
AV'ould bundle in, stull some food into tlir iiungi'v l abies mouths 
and rusli of!" for fresh tit-bits. Always wlicn either returned 
there wa.> a higli pitch(>d twitter from tiic last arrival, an 
answering twitter from the other j)arent biril in the ne:it 
and then, sooner or later (later in the case of the hen and 
sooner in the case of the cock), the one parent would bundle 
out and the other in. For two days after the death of their 
babies the old birds would carry tit-bits in and .look for 
their wee ones, but, of course, all in vain. 
However, 1 Avas not to be denied succesrs for long, 
for on June 17th the Reedlings began to incubate again and 
this time it was, oddly enough, the pair that won 1st prize 
at the Horticultui-al Hall last Xovcmber. The cock bird did 
practically all the incubating until dune 27th, when the birds 
started to feed. I provided very tiny mealworms for the 
first seven days. The cotdc l)ird was a splendid worker and 
by the way he went about it I somehow- felt sure T should 
succeed this time. The hen, too, worked well, but not nearly 
so well at: the father. On dtdy 3rd I heard young callmg 
and the way my small mealworms were eaten up rather terri- 
fied me. There Avei-e evidently more than two, but less than 
five young — I dare not look to see. On July 4th I first gave 
gentles and some excellent live ants' eggs. I noticed loo, the 
parents removed the excreta, w'hich, I was glad to see, were 
both voluminous and healthy. Surely they would pull it ofT 
this time, I thought. Feeding got more and more vigorous, 
and voices grew- more and more lusty until July 10th, when, 
to my joy, a young i)ird left the nest. It was strong — 
perfectly charming — as active us an earwig, and could shuffle 
alont.- with its wings quite fast. In cohnir it was darker 
than either parents, with a very dark longitudinally striped 
head, and with a very short tail. The next day, July ilth, 
two more babies left the nest, and our Hon. Editor kindly 
came with his biother, Mr. E. 0. Page, and took some snap- 
shots of the babies. Unfortunately the babies were not very 
good sitters, and we had to content ourselves with three snap- 
shots of one baby. , 
