272 Bird -Lore 



that resemble twee, twee, twee, pst! — the last of the four being sharply staccato 

 and almost explosive. (Later, April 20: The last note of the tehee, tehee, tehee, 

 Ifhip! when heard nearby resembles the sound made by striking a 'twangy' 

 banjo string, though it is neither so loud nor so strident.) This is varied by a 

 dee, dee, dee, (more exactly tee, tee, tee)." And I was to hear these songs and 

 notes and whistles frequently during the coming months. On March 5, 1 heard 

 also what I described at the time as "a sweet, summery song, quite different 

 from anything I have heard from him before, with, however, enough of a 

 resemblance to the notes recorded under date of January 31 to enable me to 

 guess the singer before I saw him." And once again: "The Titmouse is now 

 constantly uttering his notes that sound somewhat like a young barnyard 

 chicken." 



In April he left us; at least he was neither seen nor heard for several days. 

 We thought he had gone south to find himself a mate and companion, as for a 

 year he had been absolutely alone. On the 14th a telephone message informed 

 and assured me that he had returned, and that he had brought a mate with 

 him ! The next morning I was waked at 6 o'clock by his whistle outside my 

 window; and I was conceited enough to think that he was calling me to see 

 his bride. "Away to the window I flew like a flash," and there he was, but 

 alone. On the 16th, however, I saw them both, and on the 17th they were 

 together on the shelf. At first I could hardly distinguish them, but in a short 

 time their differences, though hardly definable, were distinct ; and of course 

 they were confirmed through the glass by the band I had placed on the male. 

 The most visible difference lay in the fact that the rufous sides of the female 

 were slightly paler than those of the male. She also seemed of a less nervous 

 disposition. For further and rapid identification, there was one tail feather of 

 the male that was awry, and appeared so loose that I was always surprised to 

 see it still in his possession. I always expected it to fall off, but it never did. 



The next thing now was to secure a nesting record for this locality, and to 

 compete with Rockford, some sixty-odd miles due west, but away from the 

 chilling effects of Lake Michigan. The pair continued to be seen and heard 

 often, but less and less often, till we felt certain they must be building a nest 

 somewhere. I trailed them often, but always in vain; I could find no trace of 

 a nest. Finally we were informed that it was quite certain the nest was nearly 

 a mile away in the north end of the town. So to the place designated two of 

 us went one morning, and were shown a hole in the top of a six-and-adialf foot 

 pole in a small, unkempt yard, not fifteen feet from a small house, which in 

 itself was situated thirty or more feet in the rear of another house. In the 

 Other directions were open fields, in one of which baseball was played en 

 Saturdays and after school hours of the other days of the week. We were 

 informed that two birds which seemed to tit our description of the Titmice 

 had been frequently seen living in and out of this hole. Earlier in the season 

 a pair of House Wrens had started to build there, but were driven out by the 



