532 ANIMAL LIFE IN TEE YOSEMITE 



Hermit Warbler. Dendroica occidentalis (Townsend) 



Field characters. — Half size of Juneo. Cheeks always yellow; under parts whitish, 

 unstreaked ; back bluish or greenish gray; two light bars on each wing; tail white 

 margined. Adult male: Whole head clear yellow except for black throat. (See pi. 9d.) 

 Female and immatures: Head dull yellow, crown mottled with blackish; little or no 

 black on throat. Voice : Song of male three or four two-syllabled notes followed by two 

 shorter ones, often with drawling intonation, seekle, zee'kle, zeekle, zeelc, sup-sup; again, 

 more clearly, ter'-ley, ter'-ley, ter'-ley, sic" sic' ; call note a moderate tchip. 



Occurrence. — Summer visitant in varying numbers to Transition and Canadian zones 

 on west slope of Sierra Nevada. Eecorded from Smith CVeek (six miles east of Coulter- 

 ville). Hazel Green, and near Chinquapin eastward to Merced Lake; common in Yosemite 

 Valley. Transient in spring through western foothills (Lagrange and Coulterville) . 

 Forages chiefly in coniferous trees 20 feet or more above ground, and nests in same 

 locations. Solitary. 



The name Hermit, applied to a warbler, might lead the novice to expect 

 a bird of dull coloration and retiring habits. The first of these expectations 

 will be dispelled by one glance at the bright yellow head, black throat, 

 white under surface and dark back of the Hermit Warbler, while further 

 acquaintance shows the bird to be a recluse only in the hiding of its nest. 



The markings just alluded to will be sufficient to identify this warbler 

 with certainty. (See pi. 9^.) In the adult male the head is clear yellow, 

 with a black throat patch ; even female and young birds always show more 

 or less yellow on the cheeks which stands out in contrast to the otherwise 

 dark upper surface. The back, wings, and tail in the Hermit Warbler 

 are dark like the same areas in the Black-throated Gray and Townsend 

 warblers, and there are conspicuous white margins to the tail. 



Hermit Warblers arrive in the Yosemite region before the end of April ; 

 singing males were already present in Yosemite Valley on April 28, 1916. 

 Two individuals, in migration, were noted near Lagrange on May 7, 1919, 

 and one near Coulterville, May 10, the same year. The species continues 

 in the mountains until the latter part of August, two pairs being seen 

 near Glacier Point on August 17, 1915, and one individual at 9000 feet 

 altitude, a little east of Merced Lake, on August 26, 1915. None was noted 

 east of the mountains at any time. 



The population of this species varies somewhat from year to year; 

 ordinarily the birds are not very common. We saw but limited numbers 

 in 1915 and 1916. Yet in 1919, in Yosemite Valley and its immediate 

 environs, the species was more abundant than either the Audubon or the 

 Calaveras Warbler. In Yosemite Valley a 4-hour census on May 31, 1915, 

 revealed about 6 singing males. The same number was recorded in a 5-hour 

 census at Chinquapin, June 10, 1915, all the birds being below an altitude 

 of 7000 feet. The population in 1919 at both these points was obviously 

 larger. 



