The Bearded Tit is the ornament of the Reed-lands. Its feathers being unusually fine and light, the brilliant black moustache gives it all the more charming and attractive an appearance. It usually slips round in the high reeds about which it clambers very cleverly. The nest is placed between the stalks of the reeds, and is composed chiefly of their leaves, the colour of which harmonises with that of the bird’s long tail, so that the latter, which stands out of the nest, cannot be distinguished from its surroundings. The clutch consists of five to seven eggs, which have light brown specks and stripes on a white ground. With the disappearance of the reeds, the number of the birds diminishes. That is why we have not in England so many of this lovely species as we used to have. Our fens and meres in Lincoln, Huntingdon, and Cambridge Shires, as well as in Kent, Sussex, and Essex, also in Suffolk having been drained, the birds that lived in these have naturally left them. We are glad, however, to know that Bearded Tits are increasing again in the Norfolk Broads, owing to protection from the greed of private collectors. The great naturalist, Buffon, declared that the male bird has the charming habit of covering his mate with his wings to protect her alike from unkind winds and the burning heat of the sun, as she sits on her nest. _Trinkin_, the peasants of Anjon call it because of the metallic tone of its cry. In the Norfolk Broads it has been known as the Reed Pheasant. Scientists have found that this species differs in its digestive organs and other points from the Titmouse family, and that it is, as the late Professor Newton remarks, a perfectly distinct form, representing the family Panuridæ, instead of forming one species of the Paridæ. It feeds on the seeds of the reeds in winter and in summer on small molluscs. This bird, which is a beautiful and delightful bird in every respect, is the size of a Yellow-Hammer. Its feathers are of a silky fineness. The head is bluish-grey; from the corner of the mouth on each side, hangs a pointed, silky black moustache, which can be raised erect on occasion. The nape and back are cinnamon brown, which is lighter over the root of the tail; the tail is deep black underneath, and is wedge-shaped with feathers of graduated length. The wings are striped with buffish-white, black and rufous; the quills are brown with white outer borders. The throat and chest are snow white, the under parts white with a flush of rose colour at the sides. The pupil of the eye is golden yellow.[4] THE GREAT TITMOUSE. (_Parus major._)