TUFTED TITMOUSE 405 



dees, cardinals, various sparrows, several local woodpeckers, Carolina 

 wrens, goldfinches, tree sparrows, and juncos. Bands of such species 

 enter patches of weeds, flit along the courses of streams, cross country 

 roads and highways, and peer forth from cover at farm yards. I was 

 interested, during my many trips among these birds in fall and winter, 

 to learn that often individuals roost, or spend dark drab days, inside 

 orifices of woodpeckers and in natural cavities of posts and stubs. Not 

 long ago I came upon a tit; it was drowsy and almost could be taken 

 in the hand. Whether the species invariably roosts in such manner at 

 night, I do not know, but I have read of campers routing the birds from 

 holes in stubs," 



Several other observers have reported winter wanderings of titmice 

 in association with such other species of winter gleaners as are named 

 above. Mr. Skinner (1928) says that, in North Carolina in winter, 

 "sometimes these Titmice seem to join with Chickadees, Juncos or 

 White-throated Sparrows. With Fox Sparrows, Field Sparrows, Blue 

 Jays, Cardinals and Myrtle Warblers, their association is probably only 

 accidental and very temporary." 



Tufted titmice are practically permanent residents in even the 

 more northern portions of their range, being regularly found in winter 

 as far north as New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Illinois. 

 Though largely woodland birds at all seasons, gleaning their food from 

 the trunks and branches of trees, or rustling among the leaves on the 

 ground, they are more mclined in winter to roam about in the open, or 

 visit the neighborhood of houses, along with the chickadees and blue 

 jays, to pick up scraps of refuse, or visit the well-stocked feeding sta- 

 tions. On the feeding shelf the tit seems to be the dominant character; 

 only the blue jay refuses to make way for him. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Eastern United States; not migratory. The range of the 

 tufted titmouse extents north to central Iowa (Ogden and Independ- 

 ence) ; southern Wisconsin (Maxomanie and probably Racine) ; southern 

 Michigan (Grand Rapids and Detroit) ; probably southern Ontario 

 (London and Toronto) ; New York (Hamburg, Potter, and Goshen) ; 

 and northern New Jersey (Mahwah and Englewood). The eastern 

 limits extend south along the coast from New Jersey (Englewood), to 

 southern Florida (probably Royal Palm Hammock). South to southern 

 Florida (probably Royal Palm Hammock, Fort Myers, Tallahassee, and 

 Choctawatchee Bay) ; Louisiana (New Orleans) ; and southeastern Texas 



667497—46—27 



