THE TUFTED TITMOUSE 
By FLORENCE MERRIAM BAILEY 
The National Association of Audubon Societies 
Educational Leaflet No. 71 
Emerson’s poem, “The Titmouse,” deals with the hardy Black-capped 
Chickadee in the snow-clad northern woods, but the gray Tufted Tit- 
mouse, which frequents the vine-draped woods of the Middle and South- 
ern States, is much the same friendly, cheerful little bird. In winter, 
when few birds are to be heard, the loud cheery whistle of the “Tom-tit,” 
as it is sometimes called, makes the leafless woods seem alive again. 
In spring, when the arbutus and the jessamine bloom in the South, 
the voices of the trio to which he belongs — Cardinal, Carolina Wren, and 
Titmouse — keep the woods ringing with their songs. When heard for 
the first time in their daybreak or late-afternoon 
chorus, it may well puzzle one to tell which songster Mingled 
is which. But, by remembering that the characteristic Voices 
note of the gray Tom-tit is the two-syllabled pe-to, pe-to, or pe-ter, pe-ter, 
in distinction from the three-syllabled whee-u-dle, whee-u-dle , or tea- 
ket-tle, tea-ket-tle, of the brown Carolina Wren; and that they are both 
quite different from the smooth, long-drawn cue, cue, cue, and the spirited 
whistles of the handsome red Cardinal, the principal songs of the three 
birds can soon be recognized. 
But the Tom-tit is by no means bound down to one stereotyped song, 
for, though seeming so practical and business-like as he hunts over the 
branches, he hides a great variety of feelings under his pretty Quaker 
dress. These are expressed, as they are with many birds, either by small 
notes or by eloquent tones and variations in the characteristic song. 
These emotional outbursts are really much more important in the 
life of birds than is the stereotyped song, for they take the place of 
talk in the family of the musician. They are best heard at the nest, 
where perhaps you may listen to a variety of small 
talk, such as the infantile, lisping notes of the hungry 
brooding bird coaxing her mate to feed her; the 
tender note of her mate calling her to come to the door for the food he has 
brought; pretty conjugal notes of greeting and farewell; ^he chattering 
scold and cries of anger, anxiety, or terror heard when enemies threaten ; 
sharp notes of warning to the young, and wails of grief when harm has 
come to the nestlings. Such notes, given emphasis by vivacious, eloquent 
movements and gestures, interpret the thoughts and feelings of these 
intense little feathered folks almost as clearly as elaborate conversa- 
tions do the emotions of less demonstrative human beings. 
Emotional 
Expressions 
