BIRDS OF NORTH CAROLINA 



57. FAMILY PARID/E. TITMICE 



Small birds, nearly allied to the nuthatches, but differing in having short, stout 

 bills and comparatively long tails. The family is a cosmopolitan one. Two easily 

 distinguished genera occur with us. 



KEY TO GENERA 



1. Head crested; throat and crown not black. Bceolophus. 



1. Head not crested; throat and crown black. Penthestes. 



Genus Baeolophus (Cab.) 



329. Bseolophus bicolor (Linn.}. TUFTED TITMOUSE. 



Description. Grayish ash, whitish below; head crested, forehead black, flanks tinged with 

 rusty. L., 6.00; W., 3.00; T., 2.70. 

 Range. Eastern United States. 

 Range in North Carolina. Whole State at all seasons. 



Fia. 265. TUFTED TITMOUSE. 



The Tufted Titmouse, so well known by its loud, clear whistle and crested head, 

 is an abundant bird everywhere in North Carolina, breeding from late April to 

 early June. The nests are placed in the natural hollows of trees. The bird fre- 

 quently fills these cavities with dead leaves and other material for a depth of a 

 foot or more, before building the nest proper, which is composed of green moss 

 and leaves, lined with cotton, fur, fine grass, or roots. The eggs are pure white or 

 light cream in ground-color, profusely speckled and spotted with different shades 

 of reddish brown. Size .75 x .53. In number the eggs vary from five to seven, 

 and are covered by the bird when it leaves the nest. Cairns remarks that the 

 female does all the building, and that the male provides her food while so occupied. 

 He also states that when the nest is disturbed the birds will remove the eggs. The 

 female is very hard to flush from the nest, and will often allow herself to be caught 



