No. 36. Lophophanes bicolor (Linn.). Tufted Titmouse.
They are not very particular about a nesting place—provided it’s a hollow—and will indifferently occupy a natural cavity in a tree, an old woodpecker’s nest or a martin box. The nest is composed of dead leaves and moss and very often cast-off snake-skin, invariably lined with some sort of animals’ hair.
The bird will not leave the nest after incubation commences, but will sit close while the entrance to the nest is being enlarged, and when a hand is inserted in the cavity will puff itself up, make a hissing noise and peck at the intruder. It has to be lifted off the nest before the eggs can be taken, thus making identification positive.
The number of eggs in a set varies from four to eight, usually six or seven, and varying from a blunt oval to elongated, almost equal-ended: white, spotted with reddish-brown, thickest at the larger end, where are also found some obscure lilac shell markings. Sometimes the brown is very pale and the spots few and small. Eggs like this resemble those of the Plain Titmouse. A series of fifteen eggs average .75×.36 inches. Two or more broods are raised, fresh eggs being found from the 1st of April to the last of May.
No. 42. Parus carolinensis (Aud.,) Carolina Chickadee.
Like the last, this is called “Tomtit” by the natives. It shares most of the habits of the Titmouse but I don’t think it is a nest robber.
This species is very like the Black-capped Chickadee of the Eastern States, replacing that species in the South Atlantic and Gulf States. The chin, throat and top of head to nape, black, sides of head, whitish; rest of upper parts brownish-ash; under parts dingy white and slightly brownish on the sides. Wings and tail like the upper parts. A specimen before me measures—length, 4.53 in.; extent, 7.02 in.; wing, 2.46; tail, 2.24. It is very close to P. atricapillus and should really be listed as a variety of that species.
This Chickadee is resident here, and is found chiefly in the timbered uplands, where its merry “Chick-a-dee-dee” is heard all the year round.
It commences nesting in March, and fresh eggs can be found until June (thus indicating that two or three broods are raised in a season.) It is a little more choice in its location for a nest than the Titmouse. A deserted Woodpecker’s nest is often used, but the majority of the nests I find are in rotten black-jack stubs and excavated by the birds themselves. A few of them nest in boxes that I’ve nailed up in the woods. The nests vary but little being built of moss, cotton (when obtainable) a few feathers and generally lined with rabbit fur, sometimes with the hair or fur of other animals. The bird sets close when the nest is disturbed and it is necessary to lift it off to see what it is trying to conceal.