318 BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



kinds of insects that can be found, but their main food, at this time, is made up of 

 seeds of different weeds and grasses ; they also eat berries, and, like the Nuthatches, 

 they often feed on chestnuts, acorns and cereals. Titmice, like Jays, are carnivo- 

 rous and sometimes, according, to Nuttall (and other writers), " they carry their dep- 

 redations so far as to pursue and attack sickly birds, even of their own species, com- 

 mencing like Jays, by piercing the skull, and devouring the brain" (Nuttall). 



Primaries ten, the first very short, being about half as long as second ; nostrils hid- 

 den by antrorse bristly feathers ; wings short and rounded, equal to or shorter than 

 the rather long, soft and almost rounded tail ; the bill shorter than the head, is stout, 

 hard, conical and rather blunt at tip, and unnotched. Three toes in front, and one 

 behind ; bill blackish ; legs lead colored ; eyes brown. 



GENUS PARUS LINNAEUS. 

 Parus bicolor LINN. 



Tufted Titmouse. 



DESCRIPTION (Plate 99). 



Length about 6 ; extent about 10 inches; bill black, both upper and lower outlines 

 convex; legs lead color ; crown with a conspicuous crest; upper parts ashy or leaden- 

 gray ; forehead dull sooty-black ; lower parts whitish ; sides and flanks rusty brown. 

 In the young the crest is shorter, and the black of the forehead, also the rusty brown 

 of the sides very indistinct. 



Habitat. Eastern United States to the plains, but rare towards the northern 

 border, being a straggler merely to southern New England. 



Common resident particularly in southeastern Pennsylvania ; gener- 

 ally found in forests, yet it often, especially in winter, comes around 

 dwellings. May easily be recognized by its loud whistling- notes or its 

 ordinary cry of dee, dee, dee. Although this bird usually nests in holes 

 of trees in woods, it occasionally builds in boxes about houses. The 

 nest is composed of feathers, dried grasses, leaves, etc. The eggs, about 

 three-fourths of an inch long and a little more than one-half wide, usually 

 five or six in number, are white, speckled with reddish-brown and lilac. 

 The Tufted Titmouse feeds on various forms of insect life, also seeds of 

 different weeds and grasses, and at times he subsists on small berries. 

 This species is seldom seen in Erie county, and it is also said to be rather 

 rare in other of the northern counties. In many of the mountainous 

 districts it is reported to be rare or found only as a winter visitor. 



Parus atricapillus LINN. 



Chickadee ; Black-cap Titmouse. 



DESCRIPTION (Plate 47}. 



Length about 5^ inches ; extent about 8 inches ; bill black ; legs bluish-gray ; head 

 not crested. Back brownish ashy ; top of head, chin and throat black; sides of 

 head white ; beneath whitish ; brownish on sides; wing and tail feathers margined 

 with white. 



Habitat. Eastern North America, north of the Potomac and Ohio Valleys. 





