TITMICE 485 



Range. SE. U. S. Breeds in Austroriparian fauna from s. Mo., and 

 s. Del. s. to e. Tex. and s. Fla.; casual in s. Mich., Ohio, N. Y., and the 

 Bahamas. 



Nest, of feathers, grasses, etc., generally near the ground, in a hole in a 

 tree or stump. Eggs, 5-6, white or creamy white, heavily spotted or blotched 

 with cinnamon- or olive-brown, '56 x '46. Date, San Mateo, Fla., Mch. 4; 

 Charleston, S. C., Mch. 12; Edgecombe Co., N. C., Mch. 28. 



This little Nuthatch, the Red-cockaded Woodpecker, and Pine 

 Warbler, are characteristic birds of the great pineries in our Southern 

 States. Frequently they are found associated. The Woodpeckers 

 generally keep to the tree tops, the Warblers live on or near the ground, 

 while the Nuthatches scramble about from the base of the trunk to the 

 terminal twigs, but feed chiefly among the smaller branches, actively 

 and spirally, getting food which they take to the main trunk to wedge 

 behind the large bark scales. They are talkative sprites, and, like a 

 group of school children, each one chatters away without paying the 

 slightest attention to what his companions are saying. When feeding 

 they utter a liquid, conversational pit-pit, a note which is accelerated 

 and emphasized as the birds take wing. At intervals, even when the 

 individuals of a troop are quite widely separated, they all suddenly 

 break out into a thin, metallic dee-dee-dee or tnee-tnee-tnee. 



64. FAMILY PAKID^B. TITMICE. (Fig. 74&.) 



Like the Nuthatches, with which, after the nesting season, they are 

 often associated, the Titmice are largely restricted to the more northern 

 parts of the world. Of the two hundred and forty-one known species, 

 fifteen are North American, where they range to the southern border 

 of the Mexican tableland. They inhabit wooded countries, where their 

 destructiveness to insects, their eggs and larvae, is of incalculable value. 

 Their nests vary widely in character. The true Titmice (Penthestes) 

 excavate holes in dead trees; dZgithalus builds a felted, purse-shaped 

 structure of plant-down with the entrance near the top; Auriparus 

 a not dissimilar but more globular home which is covered with thorny 

 twigs, and Psaltriparus a long, loosely-woven bag of plant-down, covered 

 with lichens. They are migratory at the northern limit of their range 

 and, except when nesting, are usually found in small troops. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES 



A. Crown brown; sides chestnut .... 740a. ACADIAN CHICKADEE. 



B. Crown black; outer margin of greater wing-coverts, distinctly whitish; 



wing generally over 2'50 735. CHICKADEE. 



C. Crown black; greater wing-coverts without white margins; wing under 



2'50 . 736. CAROLINA CHICKADEE. 



D. Crown gray, crested 731. TUFTED TITMOUSE. 



731. Bseolophus bicolor (Linn.}. TUFTED TITMOUSE. Ads. Head 

 crested. Forehead black; rest of upperparts, wings, and tail gray; back in 

 winter tinged with olive-brown; underparts whitish; sides washed with 

 rufous. L., 6'00; W., 3'10; T., 2'70; B., *45. 



