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The Tufted Titmouse 
Nesting in 
Moss 
these enterprising birds trying to pull hairs from her carefully arranged 
locks ! 
While the Tom-tit usually nests in a hole in a tree or stump, one 
eccentric bird has been found building in a bunch of Spanish moss. ' 
When a violent storm came, her eggs were blown to the ground. But, 
as the observer says, “undismayed, she began to work again in the ; 
same bunch of moss.” Her mate did not approve ’ 
of this, and “would fly into a hollow near at hand ; 
and whistle for her.” It did no good, however. She | 
went and looked into the hole he had picked out, but then went back 
to the moss, working rapidly and carrying “huge mouthfuls at every 
trip.” It was all in vain. When her eggs were laid another storm came 
and both eggs and nest were found on the ground. The nest, besides 
dry leaves, hair, sedge, and feathers, contained snake-skins ! 
All this goes to prove that birds are not all alike, any more than 
people are ; that it is never safe to say always and never about birds’ 
habits ; and that, in watching birds it pays to keep one’s eyes and ears 
wide open. 
The eggs of this Titmouse vary from five to eight, and are white, 
marked with brown. 
The dependence of the Tom-tits on holes in trees for nesting-sites is ‘ 
illustrated by a case in Missouri, where the “hard and gnarled black- ■ 
jacks failed to afford the necessary hollows, and, ! 
where, consequently. Titmice and birds of similar ^ 
habits were missing. When nesting-boxes were put :l 
up for Bluebirds and Wrens a pair of Tom-tits took possession of one = 
of them and raised their brood in it. 
Not only do the Titmice need holes to nest in in summer, but to roost i 
in in winter, for unlike most birds the hardy little fellows do not go 
south in the autumn, but spend the winter where they have passed the 
summer. Like Emerson’s Titmouse, they might read us an excellent I 
moral: 
Live out-of-doors 
In the great woods, on prairie floors. 
I dine in the sun ; when he sinks in the sea, 
I too have a hole in a hollow tree. 
Using a 
Nest-box 
For well the soul, if stout within, 
Can arm impregnably the skin. 
Classification and Distribution 
The Tufted Titmouse belongs to the Order Passeres and to the Family 
Paridce. Its scientific name is BcElophiis bicolor. It is found from Nebraska, Iowa, 
Ohio, and New Jersey, southward to central Texas, the Gulf coast and Florida; 
and occasionally as far north as the southern parts of Wisconsin, Michigan, New 
York and Connecticut. 
This and other Educational Leaflets are for sale, at 5 cents each, by the National Association of 
Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, New York City. Lists given on request. 
