82 BULLETIN 195, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The subspecies under consideration, which lives along the coast from 

 San Francisco Bay south to southern Monterey County, I watched 

 intensively for four years. Most of the work was done in a small can- 

 yon containing 16.7 acres of brush near Berkeley, Calif. In this canyon 

 nearly all the wren-tits were banded and marked so that they could be 

 recognized as individuals. 



Spring. — The wren-tit is classified as a permanent resident, and this 

 residency is of the most restricted sort. Individuals probably rarely 

 go more than a few miles from the place of their birth. Adults that 

 have once nested spend most of the remainder of their lives on the half 

 to two and a half acres of brushland used during the first nesting. In 

 spring, then, the wrentit population is essentially static. Pairs are 

 established on breeding territories, many of them with the same mate 

 on essentially the same territory they have held a year or more. Indi- 

 viduals that have died have been replaced by a male accepting a new 

 mate from among the young-of-the-year or a widowed female joining 

 a bereaved male or a young male establishing himself. All suitable 

 ground is held by one pair or another. A few individuals, either un- 

 able to secure a territory or mate, or for some reason not ready to do 

 so at the normal time, wander through the territories of established 

 individuals and are driven from one to another by them. However, 

 vacancies that may occur are quickly filled from the ranks of these 

 wanderers. 



The activities of the pair at this time, as they are all the year except 

 during the breeding season, are concerned with finding food for them- 

 selves and defending their territory. The pair are constantly together 

 as they work through their segment of the limitless chaparral hunting 

 for food. They keep in touch with each other by frequent calls. The 

 male often pauses to sing, and echoing calls are given by other males. 



If a jay perches nearby, they scold it. Occasionally they pause to 

 rest or preen. If their movements bring them to the margin of their 

 home area or territory, they usually turn back and continue the end- 

 less search for food. If they continue until they reach the extreme 

 limit of their territory or go into the margin of the adjoining one, 

 they are invariably met by the owners of this area and a boundary 

 dispute occurs. The fighting that takes place is never prolonged or 

 violent, and the infringing pair soon retreat to their own area and 

 both pairs continue to forage. Rarely, an individual seeking to es- 

 tablish itself may invade the territory and is persistently harrassed 

 by the owner as long as it remains, or possibly, if the territory is 

 unusually large, the owner will relinquish part of it to the newcomer. 



Oourtshi'p. — Courtship activities of a pair so constantly hidden are 

 not easily observed. Pairs seemingly are originally formed by a fe- 



