SAN JOAQUIN WREN 197 



THRYOMANES BEWICKII DRYMOECUS Obcrholser 



SAN JOAQUIN WREN 



HABITS 



This subspecies occupies an extensive range in inland California, 

 which Swarth (1916) outlines as follows: "The central portion of 

 California; the Sacramento Valley, and northward at least to the 

 Oregon boundary ; northeast to the Warner Mountains, on the Nevada 

 boundary; the west slope of the central Sierra Nevada, everywhere 

 below Transition ; southward over about the northern half of the San 

 Joaquin Valley." 



He gives as its distinguishing characters : 



Compared with cJiarienturus [now called corrcctus], drymoectis has the upper 

 surface darker and more rufcscent. The tail is somewhat shorter, and in differ- 

 ent proportion to the wing. In charienturus the tail is slightly longer than the 

 wing, in drymoecus slightly shorter. Compared with spilurus, the upper surface 

 of drymoecus is a duller and less rich brown. In the juvenal plumage the 

 character of intensity of rufescence of the upper surface is also apparent, young 

 of drymoecus being less deeply colored than young of spilurus and marinensis 

 on the one hand, and somewhat darker (though slightly so) than the young of 

 cJiarienturus on the other. It is noteworthy in this regard that whereas in 

 typical drymoecus (Sacramento Valley birds) the adults approach spilurus more 

 nearly than they do charienturus, the juvenal plumage is but slightly different 

 from the same stage in charienturus. 



Being centrally placed, this race naturally intergrades with each of 

 the surrounding subspecies at their points of contact, making it difficult 

 to draw hard and fast lines as to the limits of its distribution. 



Not much can be said about the haunts and habits of the San Joaquin 

 wren beyond what has been written about the adjacent races, as the 

 California races are all much alike in these matters. Keferring to the 

 Yosemite region, Grinnell and Storer (1924) say that this wren "is 

 common in the Upper Sonoran foothills, and some are to be found still 

 farther to the west, in the San Joaquin Valley, in the bottom lands of 

 the Merced and Tuolumne rivers. There are four species of wrens in 

 the foothill country, yet no two meet each other in serious competition. 

 The Caiion Wren is found on rocky caiion walls, the Rock Wren about 

 earth bluffs and rocky outcrops, the House Wren in oak trees, whereas 

 the San Joaquin Wren inhabits the mixed gi'owths comprising small 

 trees and brush." 



John G. Tyler (1913) writes: "The nature of the country about 

 Fresno is not such as to attract wrens of any kind in numbers. Wood 

 sprites they are, and must have a well timbered country ; so it is not 

 surprising that the present species occurs, within the range of this 

 paper, principally along the San Joaquin and Kings rivers and at the 

 mouth of one or two of the creeks that lead down out of the hills. 

 From these places they make somewhat extended visits to other parts 



7580GC— 4S 14 



