108 BLACK-CRESTED TITMOUSE. 
fident, noisy, and curious in all parts of Texas, displayed themselves to be in my new 
surroundings. They did not utter a sound, their stay was only of short duration, and 
I supposed they would not return. But one beautiful May morning, I saw one with its 
bill full of food disappearing in a nesting box, to which, hitherto, I had given little atten- 
tion. A few days later seven young Titmice left the nest. The parent birds were very 
much excited when I appeared on the scene, and uttered loud notes which sounded like 
hay-day-day-day-day. About twenty yards from this spot and six feet from the 
ground I had fastened, a box which was partly open in front, and designed for Bewick’s 
Wrens. This was used for the second brood, after the young of the first brood had 
become able to shift for themselves. I found this nest on June 20, 1883. When I was 
about to look into the box, the disturbed female flew directly into my face. Five eggs 
lay in the cozy little home, which was constructed entirely of human and animal hair. 
—Later in the season, and during the whole winter, this family of fourteen birds joyfully 
roamed through the woods. By this time they had grown more confiding, and frequently 
uttered their loud notes. Wherever the Tufted Titmouse occurs, it is resident throughout 
the year. In winter it frequently seeks the companionship of the Carolina Chickadees, 
Nuthatches, and small Woodpeckers. 
The Tufted Titmouse is a common bird in all the Southern States, from Florida to 
Texas, north to the 40° of latitude, west to the edge of the Great Plains. According to 
Mr. Robert Ridgway, it is perhaps the most abundant bird of southern Illinois, where 
it is resident, being excessively numerous in winter, when it constantly -visits the door- 
yards and shrubberies, particularly the fruit-trees in towns, where it associates with 
the Carolina Chickadee and other winter birds, all of which it surpasses in familiarity 
and boldness.—As the bird belongs to the Carolinian Fauna, it rarely occurs in southern 
New England. 
A variety, P. bicolor texensis SENNETT (Texan Tufted Titmouse), is confined to 
south-eastern Texas (Bee County). 
NAMES: Turtep Tirmovuse, Crested Titmouse, Toupet Titmouse.— Haubenmeise (German).— Mésange bicolore. 
SCIENTIFIC NAMES: PARUS BICOLOR Linn. (1766).—Lophanes bicolor Bonap. (1850).—Parus cristatus 
Bartr. (1791). 
DESCRIPTION: Head, crested. Upper parts, wings and tail included, ashy. Under parts and sides of the 
head, dull whitish, the sides washed with chestnut-brown. A black frontlet on the base of the crest. 
Bill and feet, plumbeous.—Length, 6 to 6.50; wings, 3.25, tail, 3.20 inches. 
BLACK-CRESTED TITMOUSE. 
Parus atricristatus CASSIN. . 
ON THE beginning of May, 1881, I left the city of Houston, in the south-eastern part 
of Texas, to take up my abode in the virgin forest, some 120 miles farther west. 
For nearly two years I resided with my family in a small cottage, surrounded on all sides 
by the forest. The days which I spent here I shall never forget, At last I was able to 
