Is it “Titmice” or “Titmouses”?

How do you spell the plural of Titmouse. Google shows it both ways-- which is correct? ~ Boston, Massachusetts

Tufted Titmouse on Seed Cylinder Feeder

Interesting, I’m not sure if there is a correct answer. Tit is an old English word meaning little and mase meant small bird. The name titmase morphed eventually into titmouse. This was probably because the bird's coloring does sort of remind people of a small mouse. But actually the meaning of the name Titmouse is small, little bird.

Titmice as the plural is the most accepted use even though is not etymologically consistent. I went to Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Tufted Titmouse webpage at http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Tufted_Titmouse/id and they use titmice repeatedly.

I would use titmice but I can’t see that using titmouses would be wrong. Any bird or word experts want to chime in and make a comment?

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