ANIMALS, LAND AND MARINE 53 



of close to one inch. Presence of seeds and insects, and freedom of move- 

 ment or vision, attract several kinds of birds which are so closely dependent 

 upon these situations that they come only as lon^; as the conditions prevail. 



Conditions in the brushland favor the animals with restricted power of 

 escape from pursuit and the ones which are accustomed to capture prey by 

 making: short dashes. Lupine and Ceanothus particularly provide shade, 

 screen, and food for many species. 



The trees of the forest — oak, Monterey pine, cypress — provide the accom- 

 modations for animals usually associated with trees of some sort. As has 

 been emphasized, the presence of the Monterey cypress is responsible more 

 than any other sinprle circumstance for the selection and maintenance of 

 Point Lobos as a state reserve. It is somewhat of a surprise to find that few 

 species of vertebrates are satisfied with the cypresses for living quarters. 

 The extremely dense foila]2:e of the trees and the heavy tangle of branches 

 present an almost solid wall which few animals care to penetrate. Under 

 the trees, juncos (the year round), linnets and thrushes (in the winter) 

 are accustomed to forajre ; winter wrens forage in the very densest branch- 

 work. A few other species feed among the more open portions of the tree 

 tops. Of these the only one that shows preference for the cypresses over 

 the pines is the Townsend warbler. Wood rats commonly build nests among 

 the limbs of cypresses. 



The ocean shore is the forage ground and nesting site of numbers of 

 birds, as discussed in the following chapter. The second largest group of 

 islands, known as Seal Rocks, is the hauling-out place for a large herd of 

 Stelkr and California sea lions. T .e factors of safety and conveniently 

 available food seem to account for the presence of these animals. 



"Weather conditions vary markedly, also. A slight slope toward the 

 morning or afternoon sun greatly increases the warmth of certain strips of 

 land. Added to this, the various rises and knolls are effective in defi " ing 

 the course of the wind so as to produce many types of climate iocally 

 within this comparatively small area. 



MAMMALS FOUND IN POINT LOBOS RESERVE 



Mole — Scapanus latimanus (Bachman) 



California Bat — Myotis calif ornicus (Audubon and Bachman) 



Brown Bat — Eptesicus fusciis (Peale and Beauvois) 



Coon — Procyon lot or (Linnaeus) 



Striped Skunk — Mephitis mephitis (Schreber) 



Wildcat — Lynx rufus (Schreber) 



California Sea Lion — Zalophus Calif ornianus (Lesson) 



Steller Sea Lion — Eumetopias juhata (Schreber) 



Ground Squirrel — Citellus heecheyi (Richardson) 



Gray Squirrel — Sciurus griseus Ord 



Pocket Gopher — Thomoniys hottae (Eydoux and Gervais) 



Pocket Mouse — Perognathus calif ornicus Merriam 



Steller sea lions form 



interesting habitat groups in the California 



Academy of Sciences 



