(photo by The Rev'd Richard Stamp - Australia)

 

The bearded tit is not a tit; it’s not a tit at all.

The clues are in the finer points, the details very small.

I know you’ll not believe it, and you’ll want to verify;

So if you’re out one summer’s eve where tits might catch your eye;

If there’s a rustle in the reeds, a twitcher in the rye;

The chances are that you will find a bearded tit close by.

So get down on your hands and knees and through the rushes crawl;

Just look at it, you look at it, it’s not a tit at all.

Not even just a little bit, it’s simply not a tit.

Perhaps you’ll hear it, so keep quiet and listen out for it.

It doesn’t sound much like a tit, it sings a ping- ping song.

How could those ornithologists have got it all so wrong?

The long tailed tit which looks like it is every bit a tit,

A pity as the bearded tit is pretty, I’ll admit.

And maybe when you look at it, you‘ll notice something weird;

It has two long moustachios, it doesn’t have a beard.

It should be moustached reedling, but that doesn’t seem to fit,

And so I guess we’re stuck with it, salute the bearded tit!