A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 1. Robert Ridgway

      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