434 
MR. J. H. GURNEY ON THE BEARDED TITMOUSE. 
commenced their nests in March, but something would depend on 
the weather, for March can be a very boisterous month in the 
Eastern Counties. The nest in Norfolk is generally placed about 
a foot above the level ground, and never in any way suspended, the 
tallest and stoutest reeds being selected for its support ; but excep- 
tionally a nest is in a cluster of Sweet Gale or Dwarf Alder, which 
grow abundantly round the broads. The nest is composed of the 
brown blades of A r undo pliragmitis, and lined with the same 
plant’s feathery top, 2.8 inches inside diameter, and if a projecting 
piece of reed sticks through the bottom, as I have known to be the 
case, the difficulty of sitting on the eggs is not on that account 
insurmountable, however inconvenient. A nice typical nest is the 
one here photographed by Mr. It. B. Lodge in Heigham Sounds, 
always a favourite place, and gives a better idea of what it is like 
than the figure in Yarrell’s ‘ British Birds.’ The nest itself and 
its surroundings, cut out by Mr. E. Chase, is to be seen in The 
Natural History Museum, among the separately mounted groups 
of birds. 
The eggs, laid early, are very pretty, and at the same time 
peculiar. Deposited in April, they are generally six in number, 
though I have found seven, white with specks and short wavy lines 
of brown, with a pink tinge when fresh, but showing a zone when 
incubated. Old Joshua, the marshman before alluded to, found 
two nests, one on the top of the other ; and on another occasion 
twelve eggs in one nest, but in this case two hens were near the 
nest. Another nest, sent to Mr. F. Norgate by the same man, 
I believe, contained ten eggs, but two of them were buried 
under the lining of the nest. It is a fact that the cock bird 
occasionally takes part in incubation, though this has been doubted 
by Mr. J. G. Keulemans who has written a pleasing account of the 
species. Joshua has known them to lay the first egg before the 
nest was finished, and then a layer of building material, and then 
some more eggs. An egg taken from a nest on “ Hog Hill,” Horsey, 
May 8th, 1889, was placed in an incubator, by Mr. William Evans, 
but this attempt to ascertain the duration of the incubation period 
unfortunately was not successful, but Mr. Evans quotes Tidemann’s 
authority for fourteen days, the same as Parus cceruleus. Lubbock, 
on the authority of a marshman, gives us a very curious trait in 
their habits, that in cold weather they sometimes nestle together in 
