LAND BIRDS. 



693 



Fig. 148. 



Tufted Titmouse, 

 mounted specimen. 



From photograpli of 

 (Original.) 



Distribution.- — Eastern United States to the Plains, north to southern 

 New Jersey and southern Iowa; casual in southern New England. Resident 

 throughout its breeding range. 



This interesting bird is confined to the southern part of the Lower 

 Peninsula and appears to be nowhere common even there. By far the 

 greater number of reports are 

 of winter specimens, and some 

 observers contend that the bird 

 is a migrant and occurs only in 

 spiing and fall, while the great 

 majority of observers have failed 

 to find the species at all. Con- 

 sidering all the facts that we have 

 been able to gather there would 

 seem to be no reason to suppose 

 that the bird migrates, but rather 

 that it occurs here and there, 

 singly or in pairs, and is resident 

 wherever found, but that it is very 

 irregularly distributed and by no 

 means always to be found in the 

 same place. 



•«• Mr. Trombley of Petersburg has 

 found it in different seasons from 

 February 25 through the whole of 

 March and April and a large part of Ma}^ He also states that he found 

 it nesting at Petersburg in one instance. About Detroit Mr. Swales 

 has found it only in certain sections, as on Belle Isle in the Detroit River. 

 He says: "I firmly believe that the species breeds in limited numbers 

 on the Island, although I personally have not observed the bird there 

 later than the middle of May. June 24, 1905 Mr. Taverner heard one 

 whistling in a woods just north of Detroit, and on August 6 we heard the 

 bird in the same place and it was secured; another was seen August 27. 

 This pair without doubt bred in this locality." Dr. Atkins recorded it 

 but twice at Locke, a pair April 30, 1871, and a single specimen April 12, 

 1881. Jason E. Nichols of Lansing, has a specimen in his collection taken 

 in that vicinity, and the species has been observed repeatedly about the 

 Agricultural College, but not in any numbers. It is most often seen 

 during winter when occasionally one or two may be found with a troup 

 of Chickadees, Nuthatches and Kinglets as they come close about the 

 houses searching for food. The writer has also taken it once in August, 

 and T. L. Hankinson recorded one on the College campus September 20, 

 1896. During the past winter (1912), it was reported from Eaton Rapids, 

 Eaton county. It is recorded from Van Buren county by Dr. Gibbs who 

 states that a specimen was collected there by Mr. B. F. Syke. 



A specimen was taken at Ann Arbor September 15, 1877, and three 

 specimens October 5, 1886 (Covert). "During the fall and winter of 1903, 

 the species appeared to be fairly common, as J. J. Ricks noted a flock at 

 Portage Lake, and it has been noted several times in the vicinitv of Ann 

 Arbor, on Dec. 13, 1900, Feb. 7 and 21, and March 13, 1904" (Wood ami 

 Tinker, Auk, XXVIT, 1910, 141). According to G. A. Stockwoll (Forest and 

 Stream, Vol. 8, page 261) it was plentiful in 1870 in Eaton and Barry counties. 



