16 



OUR SOUTHERN BIRDS 



TUFTED TITMOUSE 



This vigorous little fellow makes up in con- 

 spicuous voice and action for the modest ashen 

 smoothness of his coloring. His rousing "peeto, 

 peeto, peeto" may be heard on any still winter 

 morning. He is full of pranks and quite intrepid, 

 so that curiosity often brings him into porches 



and out-buildings where, 

 if not protected, he falls 

 an easy victim to the cat. 

 His nest is deep in 

 some abandoned Wood- 

 pecker's hole or hollow 

 limb, and soft with 

 crushed dry oak-galls of 

 last year, with sedge- 

 grass down, and hair 

 picked up around barns and stables, or even 

 pulled out of the backs of cows in the pasture. 



One spring day I was lying on a cot out of 

 doors, when a Titmouse came into the porch 

 where I was and began to explore nooks and 

 crannies. I " froze," as it is well to do when a 

 bird comes near, and lay watching him as he 

 poked about the rungs of a chair and the cracks 

 of the balusters ; but what was my surprise when 

 he hopped up on my pillow and began to examine 

 my head! I dared not move; I heard his light 



TUFTED TITMOUSE 

 Length 6 inches 



