THE TUFTED TITMOUSE 



By FLORENCE MERRIAM BAILEY 



^^t i^ational SLs&ociation of jaububon ^ocittit& 



EDUCATIONAL LEAFLET No. 71 



Emerson's poem, "The Titmouse," deals with the hardy Black-capped 

 Chickadee in the snow-clad northern woods, but the gray Tufted Titmouse, 

 which frequents the vine-draped woods of the middle and southern states, 

 is much the same friendly, cheerful little bird. 



In winter, when few birds are to be heard, the loud, cheery whistle of the 

 'Tomtit,' as it is sometimes called, makes the leafless woods seem alive again. 

 In spring, when the arbutus and the jessamine bloom in the 

 Voice South, the voices of the trio to which he belongs — Cardinal, 



Carolina Wren, and Titmouse — keep the woods ringing with 

 their songs. When heard for the first time in their daybreak or late-afternoon 

 chorus, it may well puzzle one to tell which songster is which. But, by remem- 

 bering that the characteristic note of the gray Tomtit is the two-syllabled 

 pe-to, pe-to, pe-to, or Pe-ter, Pe-ter, Pe-ter, in distinction from the three-syllabled 

 whee-u-dle, whee-u-dle, or tea-ket-tle, tea-ket-tle, of the brown Carolina Wren, 

 and that they are both quite different from the smooth, long-drawn cue, 

 cue, cue, and the spirited whistles of the handsome red Cardinal, the principal 

 songs of the three birds can soon be recognized. 



But the Tomtit is by no means bound down to one stereotyped song. 

 For, though seeming so practical and businesslike as he hunts over the branches, 

 he hides a great variety of feelings under his pretty Quaker dress. These are 

 expressed, as they are with many birds, either by small notes or eloquent 

 tones and variations in the characteristic song. These emotional outbursts 

 are really much more important than the stereotyped song in the life of the 

 bird, for they take the place of talk in the family of the musician. 



They are best heard at the nest, where you may perhaps listen to a variety 

 of small talk, such as the infantile, lisping notes of the hungry brooding bird 

 coaxing her mate to feed her; the tender note of her mate calling her to come 

 to the door for the food he has brought; pretty conjugal notes of greeting 

 and farewell; the chattering scold and cries of anger, anxiety and terror heard 

 when enemies threaten; sharp notes of warning to the young, and wails of 

 grief when harm has come to the nestlings. Such notes, given emphasis by 

 vivacious, eloquent movements and gestures, interpret the thoughts and 

 feelings of these intense little feathered folks almost as clearly as elaborate 

 conversations do the emotions of less demonstrative human beings. 



The various songs of the Tufted Titmouse have been carefully described 

 by Nuttall, the old ornithologist, who says that "the Peto" and the Carolina 



C394) 



