THE TUFTED TITMOUSE 



By FLORENCE MERRIAM BAILEY 



THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AUDUBON SOCIETIES 

 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 Tit- 

 mouse, which frequents the vine-draped woods of the Middle and South- 

 ern States, is much the same friendly, cheerful little bird. In winter, 

 when few birds are to be heard, the loud cheery whistle of the "Tom-tit," 

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



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



is which. But, by remembering that the characteristic 

 note of the gray Tom-tit is the two-syllabled pc-to, pe-to, or pe-ter,>pe-ter, 

 in distinction from the three-syllabled ivhee-u-dle, ivhee-u-dle, or tea- 

 ket-tlc, tca-kct-tle, of the brown Carolina W r ren ; and that they are both 

 quite different from the smooth, long-drawn cue, tuc, cue, and the spirited 

 whistles of the handsome red Cardinal, the principal songs of the three 

 birds can soon be recognized. 



But the Tom-tit is by no means bound down to one stereotyped song, 

 for, though seeming so practical and business-like 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 by eloquent tones and variations in the characteristic song. 



These emotional outbursts are really much more important in the 

 life of birds than is the stereotyped song, for they take the place of 

 talk in the family of the musician. They are best heard at the nest, 

 where perhaps you may listen to a variety of small 

 talk, such as the infantile, lisping notes of the hungry Emotional 

 brooding bird coaxing her mate to feed her; the xpressions 



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, or terror heard when enemies threaten ; 

 sharp notes ot warning to the young, and wails of grief when harm has 

 come to the nestlings. Such notes, given ?mphasis by vivacious, eloquent 

 movements and gestures, interpret the thoughts and feelings ot these 

 intense little feathered folks almost as clearly as elaborate conversa- 

 tions do the emotions ot less demonstrative human beings 



