Wren-TIt WESTERN BIRDS 



are in my garden; having come over from the near-by 

 Arroyo Seco as if to prove that they are not afraid. 

 Whit-whit-whit, repeated many times and with varia- 

 tions, they are calling to each other as they forage. One 

 of the pair is in my pepper tree helping himself to the 

 red berries, and the other has strayed into a neighbor's 

 garden and the two are keeping up a lively conversation. 

 This answering each other is a way of these birds. 



Dr. Joseph Grinnell, in the September-October, 1913, 

 number of The Condor, has a splendid monograph on 

 the "Call Notes and Mannerisms of the Wren-tit." I 

 feel that I can vouch for this account (did Grinnell's 

 things need corroborating) since it exactly coincides with 

 my observations of these birds. 



Grinnell says of the most common call of these birds, 

 a call which can be imitated with the human whistle: 

 "Loud series of staccato notes all on same pitch but with 

 decreasing intervals, the last of the series run together to 

 form a thrill: pit-pit-pit-pit-pit-tr-r-r-r-r. Several counts 

 from three to five of the first, distinctly uttered notes." 



This call is usually described as given in a descending 

 scale which has caused the bird to be sometimes called 

 "scale-bird." Grinnell maintains that it gives no de- 

 scending scale. While I admit that I have heard the 

 call when it seemed to descend, the birds in the yard are 

 using the same pitch, and I wonder if it is not the ending 

 trill which is confusing and gives the impression of a 

 descending scale. 



Some of the other calls are, tit, tit, tit, given many 

 times in a clear, measured whistle. Again the same 

 notes sound like pit, pit or whit-whit. In the next 

 breath the bird will say, dear, dear, dear, in a plaintive 

 way that reminds me of the common call of the Rufous- 

 crowned Sparrow. Again the bird starts the call with 

 a tremolo note. Tee-it, tee-it, increasing notes as he 

 proceeds until they bubble forth, Wren-fashion. An- 



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