BEARDED TITMOUSE. 
183 
much similarity ; they are found (except during 
the breeding time) in small troops, feeding and 
clinging among the reeds in every attitude, and 
following each other by responding cries ; so 
tame and engrossed with their occupation, as to 
be taken with a bird-lime twig attached to a 
fishing-rod. They flit just above the the tops of 
the reeds,* and are not easily discerned except by 
one accustomed to their haunts and cries. Their 
parties are sometimes said to be extended to small 
flocks, f which is not usual with the pari, their 
troops never exceeding the number of their brood. 
The reed beds on the banks of the Thames 
seem to be the most abundant and best known 
locality for the Bearded Titmouse. Cambridge- 
shire, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire, also 
possess it, and its most northern range in Britain is 
Lancashire. One specimen only is recorded from 
Ireland, while in Scotland no traces have ever been 
heard or seen of it. In Holland they are fre- 
quent ; but perhaps are not elsewhere abundant 
on the Continent, and their occurrence in some of 
the northern countries seems scarcely well authen- 
ticated. According to Temminck, it is found on 
the borders of the Black and Caspian Seas. 
The male is a graceful and chastely coloured 
bird. The bill is orange yellow, and the irides 
are bright and shining gamboge yellow. Before 
and below the eyes the feathers are jetty black, 
and those placed lowest are elongated for half an 
* Hoy, Loudon's Mag. of Nat Hist. iii. p. 329. 
t Dykes, in Loudon’s Mag. of Nat. Hist. iii. p. 329. 
