206 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 





TITMICE 



Order Passercs; suborder Osciiics; family Paridcr 



HE Titmouse family, which includes the birds of that name, the Chickadees 

 the Bush-Tits, and the Verdins, comprises several species of small birds, 

 classified by systematic ornithologists as " song birds " (Oscines), not neces- 

 sarily because they can sing, but because they have well-developed vocal 

 organs. 



The present group have short cone-shaped bills, and obtuse tongues armed 

 at the tip with horny bristles. Wings are well developed and rounded, the 

 tail is usually about as long as the wing and slightly rounded, and 

 the feathers are softer than the stiffened ones of Thrushes and Kinglets. 

 They inhabit the northern hemisphere generally, and chiefly are arboreal, 

 omnivorous, very active, and essentially non-migratory. They are far better 

 represented in the Old World than in the New. North America, including Mexico, possesses 

 less than 30 species and subspecies, and but four genera, while about 70 species and at least 

 five genera belong to Arctic, Indian, and African regions. 



The plumage of the members of this family is never spotted, streaked, or barred; plain 

 colors are the rule — grays, browns, and olives for the upper parts and dull white and grays 

 for the under parts. The Titmice may or may not have black on their heads ; the Chickadees 

 always have the crown and hindneck uniform black or brown ; the adult Verdins have yellow 

 heads; and the Bush-Tits sometimes have the sides of their heads black and, if the general 

 color of their upper parts is gray, their crowns are generally brownish, and if the general color 

 is olive, their crowns are gray. The Titmice are crested, but the other members of the family 

 lack this adornment. 



Birds of the Titmouse family, though insignificant in size, are far from being so in the 

 matter of food habits. What they lack in size of body they more than make up in number 

 of individuals. The character of the food of Titmice gives a peculiar value to their services, 

 for it consists largely of the small insects and their eggs that wholly escape the search of 

 larger birds. Throughout the year most of the species of this group remain on their range, 

 so that they are constantly engaged in their beneficial work, continuing it in winter when 

 the majority of their co-workers have sought a milder clime. It is at this season that the 

 Titmice do their greatest good ;for, when flying and crawling insects are no more to be found, 

 the birds must feed upon such species as they find hibernating in crevices, or upon the eggs 

 of insects laid in similar places. 



TUFTED TITMOUSE 

 Baeolophus bicolor ( Linmcus) 



A- n. U. Number 731 See Color Plate 103 



Other Names. — -Tufted Tit; Tufted Chickadee: 

 Crested Titmouse ; Peto Bird ; Crested Tomtit. 



General Description. — Length, 6 inches. Upper 

 parts, slate-gray; under parts, wliite and reddish. Bill, 

 short and stout; wings, long and rounded; tail, shorter 

 than wing, slightly rounded ; head, with crest. 



Color. — Forehead, black or sooty black, margined 

 posteriorly with sooty brown; rest of upper parts, plain 

 slate-gray; eye region, dull white; ear region, pale 

 gray ; cheek region and under parts, dull white, passing 

 on sides and flanks into light cinnamon-rufous : iris, 

 brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Usually in deserted Wood- 



pecker holes or hollow stumps ; a collection of moss, 

 leaves, bark strips, and horse- and cattle-hair. Eggs : 

 From 5 to 8, white, thickly spotted with reddish-brown. 

 Distribution. — Eastern United States ; north, regu- 

 larly, to soutliern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, central 

 Ohio, northern Indiana, northern Illinois, southern 

 Iowa, and northeastern Nebraska ; irregularly or casu- 

 ally to Connecticut, southern New York (Long Island, 

 Staten Island) extreme northern portions of Indiana 

 and Illinois, and southern Minnesota ; west to eastern 

 portion of the Great Plains; south to the Gulf coast, 

 including south-central F'lorida and eastern and central 

 Texas. 



