Tufted Titmouse 23 



TUFTED TITMOUSE 



Called Also: Peto Bird; Crested Tomtit; Crested 



Titmouse 



Don't expect to meet the tufted titmouse 

 if you live very far north of Washington. He 

 is common only in the South and West. 



This pert and lively cousin of the lovable 

 little chickadee is not quite so friendly and far 

 more noisy. Peto-peto-peto comes his loud, clear 

 whistle from the woods and clearings where he 

 and his large family are roving restlessly about 

 all through the autumn and winter. A famous 

 musician became insane because he heard one 

 note ringing constantly in his overwrought 

 brain. If you ever hear a troupe of titmice 

 whistling Peto over and over again for hours at 

 a time, you will pity poor Schumann and fear 

 a similar fate for the birds. But they seem to 

 delight in the two tiresome notes, uttered some- 

 times in one key, sometimes in another. Another 

 call — day-day-day — reminds you of the chick- 

 adee's, only the tufted titmouse's voice is louder 

 and a little hoarse, as it well might be from 

 such constant use. 



Few birds that we see about our homes wear 

 a top knot on their heads. The big cardinal 

 has a handsome red one, the larger blue jay's 

 is bluish gray, the cedar waxwing's is a Quaker 



