_Parus bicolor_, LINN. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. I, 1766, 340 (based on
_Parus cristatus_, CATESBY, I, pl. lvii).—PR. MAX. Cab. Jour. VI,
1858, 118. _Lophophanes bicolor_, BON. List Birds Europe,
1842.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 384; Review, 78.—SCLATER, Catal.
1861, 14, no. 87. _Bæolophus bicolor_, CAB. Mus. Hein. I, 1850, 91
(type of genus). _Lophophanes missouriensis_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am.
1858, 384 (var. from Missouri River).
Figures: WILSON, Am. Orn. I, pl. viii, fig. 5.—AUD. Orn. Biog. I,
pl. ccci; IB. Birds Am. II, pl. cxxv.
SP. CHAR. Above ashy; a black frontal band. Beneath dull whitish;
sides brownish-chestnut, of more or less intensity. Length, 6.25
inches; wing, 3.17.
HAB. United States, from Missouri Valley eastward.
[Illustration: _Lophophanes inornatus._]
Feathers of the crown elongated into a flattened crest, which extends
back as far as the occiput. Bill conical; lower edge of upper mandible
nearly straight at the base. Fourth and fifth quills equal; third a
little shorter than seventh; second rather shorter than the
secondaries. Tail nearly even, the outer about .20 of an inch shorter
than the longest. Upper parts ash-color, with a tinge of olivaceous.
Forehead dark sooty-brown. The feathers of the upper part of the head
and crest obscurely streaked with lighter brown. Under parts of head
and body, sides of head, including auriculars, and a narrow space
above the eye, dirty yellowish-white, tinged with brown; purest on the
side of head, the white very distinct in the loral region, and
including the tuft of bristly feathers over the nostrils, excepting
the tips of those in contact with the bill, which are blackish. The
sides of the body and the under tail-coverts are tinged with
yellowish-brown. The quills and tail-feathers are edged with the color
of the back, without any whitish. Bill black. Feet lead-color.
Specimens from the West are larger, the colors all more strongly
marked.
HABITS. The Tufted Titmouse is a common and well-known species in the
Southern States, from the seaboard to the Rocky Mountains. Its
northern limits are in Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Kansas. Farther
north than this its occurrence appears to be only occasional and
accidental. The statement of Mr. Audubon that they are found in the
Northern States, even to Nova Scotia, was evidently a mistake. They do
not occur in Massachusetts, nor, so far as I am aware, have they been
met with in any part of New England.
They are abundant in Northern Georgia, where, according to the
observations of Dr. Gerhardt, they are among the first birds to breed,
having fledglings fully grown as early as the first of May. Dr.
Woodhouse found them very common in the Indian Territory, but none of
the other exploring parties met with it farther west, where it is
replaced by its kindred species.
It is perhaps the most abundant bird in Southern Illinois, where it is
resident, being excessively numerous in winter, and in that season
often a positive nuisance from their impertinent vehement scolding as
they appear to follow the hunter in troops through the woods. In
winter it is a constant inhabitant of the door-yards and shrubbery,
particularly fruit-trees in the towns, where it is associated with the
Carolina Chickadee (_Parus carolinensis_) and other winter birds, but
exceeding them all in familiarity and boldness. (Ridgway.)
Mr. Nuttall, who never met with this bird north of Pennsylvania, found
it very common in the winter and spring in the Southern States, where
it displayed all the habits and uttered the usual notes of the family.
In the dreariest solitudes of the Southern States these birds were his
constant and amusing companions. Their sprightly movements and their
varied musical talents made it even more peculiarly interesting at a
time when all the other tenants of the forest were silent. The notes
of this bird, which, when expressed by this writer on paper, seem only
quaint and eccentric articulations, were characterized by him as
lively, cheering, and varied, delivered with a delicacy, energy,
pathos, and variety of expression to which it was far beyond the power
of description to do justice.
These notes, at times, even partook of the high-echoing and
clear tones of the Oriole. The usual song of this Titmouse is
presented by Mr. Nuttall by the following characteristics:
“_Whip-tom-killy-killy-dāy-dāy-dā-it-tshica-dēē-dee_,” varied with
“_Kāī-tee-did-did-did_,” etc., etc. Later in the season, under the
milder influences of spring, these Titmice pursued the insects from
branch to branch, calling restlessly and with loud and echoing voices,
_peto-peto-peto_, with frequent quaint variations too numerous to be
repeated. Their song even consisted of successions of playful,
pathetic, or querulous calls, never exhibiting any trills after the
manner of the Warblers, yet the compass and tones of their voice,
their capricious variety, and their general effect are described as
quite as pleasing as the more exquisite notes of our summer songsters.
When wounded this Titmouse resists with great spirit any attempt to
take him alive, but soon becomes tame and familiar in confinement,
subsisting on seeds, broken nuts, etc. Impatient of restraint, it
incessantly attempts to work its way out of its cage.
The general habits of these birds correspond closely with those of the
large family to which they belong. They move usually in small flocks
of from five to ten through the branches of trees and bushes in quest
of insects, examine the cracks and crevices of the bark, hang on the
under side of small branches, move sideways around the trunks of
trees, probe the openings in acorns, pine-cones, nuts, etc., for its
food, and retain apparently the family group until the spring, when
they separate into pairs.
One of these birds kept in confinement by Dr. Bachman of Charleston
was in the habit of hiding its food in the corner of its cage, in a
small crevice, and of creeping at night into a small box, where it lay
doubled up like a ball till the first light of the morning, when it
resumed its restless habits.
The Tufted Titmouse passes its nights and days, when the weather is
inclement, in the hollows of decayed trees or the deserted holes of
the woodpeckers. In such places it also builds its nests. It has been
known to excavate a hole for itself even in hard sound wood. Its nest
is simply a rude lining of the selected cavity, composed of various
soft and warm materials. In this are deposited from six to eight eggs.
But a single brood is raised in a season. The young birds, as soon as
they are fledged, hunt in company with their parents, and remain
associated with them until the following spring. The eggs of this bird
have a length of .75 of an inch and a breadth of .56. They are of a
rounded oval in shape, and are thickly sprinkled with fine
rust-colored dots, intermingled with a few larger markings of lilac,
on a white ground.
Lophophanes atricristatus, CASSIN.