The Tufted Titmouse 397 



storm came, her eggs were blown onto the ground. Hut, as the observer says, 

 '•undismayed, she began to work again in the same l)uncli of moss." Her mate 

 did not approve of this, and "would fly into a hollow near at hand and whistle 

 for her." It did no good, however. She went and looked into the hole he had 

 picked out, but then went back to the moss, working rapidly and carrying 

 ''huge mouthfuls at every trip." It was all in vain. When her eggs were laid 

 another storm came and both eggs and nest were found on the ground. The 

 nest besides dry leaves, hair, sedge, and feathers, contained snake-skins! 



All of which goes to prove that birds are not all alike, any more than people 

 are; that it is never safe to say always and never about birds' habits, and that 

 in watching birds it pays to keep one's eyes and ears wide open. 



The eggs that the Titmouse lays vary in number from five to eight, and 

 they are white, marked with brown. The dependence of the Tomtits on holes 

 in trees for nesting-sites is illustrated by a case in Missouri, 

 Eggs where the "hard and gnarled black jacks" failed to afford the 



necessary hollows, and where, consequently. Titmice and birds 

 of similar habits were missing. When nesting-boxes were put up for Bluebirds 

 and Wrens, a pair of Tomtits appeared and took advantage of them, raising 

 a brood in each. 



Not only do the Titmice need holes to nest in in summer, but to roost in 

 in winter; for, unlike most birds, the hardy little fellows do not go south in 

 fall, but spend the winter where they have passed the summer. Like Emerson's 

 Titmouse, they might read us an excellent moral: 



Live out-of-doors 

 In the great woods, on prairie floors. 

 I dine in the sun; when he sinks in the sea, 

 I too have a hole in a hollow tree. 



For well the soul, if stout within, 

 Can arm impregnably the skin. 



Classification and Distribution 



The Tufted Titmouse belongs to the Order Passercs or Perching Birds, to the 

 Family Paridce, and the Genus BcEoloplius. Its scientific name is Bccolophus bicolor. 

 It is found from Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, 

 southward to central Texas, the Gulf coast and Florida; and occasionally as far north 

 as the southern parts of Wisconsin, Michigan, New York and Connecticut. 



