Baeolophus bicolor
Order Passeriformes
Family Paridae
Adult.— Forehead black; upper parts, wings, and tail gray; sides of belly reddish-brown; rest of under parts white; head crested.
Nest, in a hole in a tree.
Eggs, white, spotted with reddish-brown.
The Tufted Tit is a permanent resident of New Jersey, as far north as Orange, and of Staten Island, though not common in the northern portion of its range. In southwestern Connecticut it occurs only as a rare visitant; it is absent from the rest of New England. Its loud whistle, like the syllables peto, attracts notice to it, and its conspicuous crest and plain gray colors make it easy to identify. It has also lisping calls very like the Chickadee‘s, and a hoarse dee dee dee.
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)