218 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YOSEMITE 



With the protection now afforded, we may hope that beavers will con- 

 tinue to live along these streams in goodly numbers especially in those 

 places where their presence is not troublesome to the ranchers. From the 

 standpoint of the naturalist and nature-lover, the beaver is one of the most 

 interesting mammals in the fauna of the Yosemite region. 



YosEMiTE Cony. Ochotona schisticeps muiri Grinnell and Storer 



Field characters.— BoAy size near that of House Eat; body short, face region rounded, 

 ears large and round, eyes small; tail so short as to be not visible. (See pi. 38a.) 

 Head and body 6 to 7 inches (155-180 mm.), tail (vertebrae) % to % inch (10-16 mm.), 

 hind foot 1% to lYi inches (28-32 mm.), ear (from crown) % to 1% inches (22-27 

 mm.); weight 4 to 5% ounces (112-159 grams). General coloration pale gray, with 

 more or less of a reddish cast, especially in summer. Voice: A high-pitched, 'stony' 

 checlc-ick, uttered once; at times, a more excited, repeated, checJc-ick, check-ick, check- 

 icky, which may be kept up for 10 to 15 seconds. Workings: Small piles and scattered 

 bits of grasses and other plants, cut green and cured as ' hay. ' Droppings : rabbit-like, 

 flattened spheres % inch in diameter deposited in groups on rocks; also stains of liquid 

 excrement at or near tops of peaked, or roof -shaped, rocks, with other higher, sheltering 

 rocks about. 



Occurrence. — Common resident in Hudsonian Zone, extending down locally into 

 upper part of Canadian Zone and up into Arctic-Alpine. Eecorded from Ten Lakes, 

 Tenaya Lake, and Washburn Lake eastward to Bloody Canon and to Ellery Lake. Lives 

 in rock slides (pi. 36a). Chiefly diurnal. 



The Yosemite Cony is an alpine species, found only in the higher parts 

 of the mountains above the fir belt, chiefly in the zone occupied by the 

 alpine hemlock, white-bark pine, Sierran heather, and cassiope. Even 

 within this narrow area it does not live everywhere, but is restricted to a 

 single type of habitat, that comprised in moraines or taluses of broken 

 granite. (See pi. 36a..) Altitudinally, the cony is found, in the Yosemite 

 National Park, as low as 7700 feet, for example, near Glen Aulin, on the 

 Tuolumne River; upward it ranges to about 12,000 feet, as on the slopes 

 of Mount Dana and on the very summit of Parsons Peak, 12,120 feet. 



In one typical rock slide, at the head of Lyell Caiion, our estimates 

 indicated a population of at least one cony for every 750 square yards. 

 This would mean a population of about six to an acre. The extent of one 

 individual's range is limited, probably rarely exceeding the boundaries 

 of the particular rock slide in which the animal has its headquarters. 

 While a cony will go some distance among rocks for food materials, it will 

 not ordinarily venture more than two or three yards bej^ond the limits of 

 that kind of shelter. 



The summer traveler in the mountains is first apprised of the presence 

 of conies by hearing one of the animals utter its far-off-sounding 'bleat.' 

 In fact, this call is such a valuable introductory aid that the experienced 

 field observer finds it the best practicable means of locating the animals. 



