WINTER COMRADES 143 



in some well decayed fir or spruce stub. They 

 range in summer from Manitoba and Maine 

 northward, wintering from northern United 

 States southward. Mr. Knight says he has good 

 reason to believe that these birds remain mated 

 year after year, a very interesting fact, if true. 

 Another little Nuthatch, known as the Brown- 

 headed, is found in the South, particularly in 

 the pine barrens of the Carolinas where I have 

 often found them in winter. In color they are 

 similar to the Red-breasted, except that the 

 head is brown; their habits are much the same. 



Tufted Titmouse. Classed in the same gen- 

 eral family with the Nuthatches is another dis- 

 tinct sub-family, the Tits or Chickadees, of 

 which we have four varieties in eastern Xorth 

 America. The Tufted Tit is a rather common 

 bird, of general distribution in his range which 

 is from northern New Jersey south to the Gulf 

 States. He is easily known by the prominent 

 tuft or crest which gives him his name, and his 

 common notes, ^^peto, peto, peto^^ heard at all 

 hours of the day. He also utters a '' de-de-de-de^'' 

 so much like the notes of his more northern 

 cousin, the Chickadee, as to plainly indicate 

 the relationship. In pose and movement this 

 bird seems a miniature Blue Jay, but it is more 

 given to sociability. In winter they are in flocks, 

 and when insects are not to be had they feed 

 upon nuts and seeds which they easily crack 

 with their strong bills. 



Their chief color is a pale ashy gray; the 

 wings and tail are darker and the forehead is 

 black. The under parts are whitish, washed 



