PANURUS.
Nostrils covered with operculum ; bill pointed; culmen curved ; tail long, graduated; inhabit reedy localities; nest deep cup low down among aquatic plants; eggs white, sparsely covered with reddish brown scratches.
Panurus biarmicus biarmicus (L.). BEARDED TIT. Fr. Mesange barbue ; Ger. l3artmeise ; Mil. Basettino.
adult. Fawn colour above, crown and face lavender, moustachial line black, wing coverts and secondaries with long black streaks and rusty white inner margins ; beneath, throat and breast pinkish grey, middle of abdomen white, flanks light brown, under tail coverts black. Bill dark yellow. Legs and feet black. Wing 59-62. Tail 80-87. Tarsus 21-22. Bill 7.5.
9 Crown dull brown, no moustachial stripe, back reddish brown with some broad black streaks (also occasionally on crown) ; beneath paler than in j and under tail coverts fawn like flanks. Wing 55-62. Young are like 9 but more streaked with black above.
(local), Holland, Belgium, W. and C. Germany ; S. Europe from E. Spain through S. France and Italy to Greece.
Resident —Hungary, E. Galicia, Rumania, Bulgaria and S. Russia to Volga Delta and Caucasus and on through Asia to Manchuria.