534 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YOSEMITE 



ToLMiE Warbler. Oporornis tolmiei (Townsend) 



Field characters. — About two-thirds bulk of Junco. Head, neck, and breast gray, 

 darkest in adult males; eyelids white; belly and under parts yellow; upper surface, 

 wings, and tail, plain dull green. (See pi. 9h.) Voice: Song of male three to five clear 

 separated notes followed by one or several shorter ones close together and sometimes 

 trilled: syr-pit', syr-pif, syr-pit', syr-sip sip sip sip; call note of both sexes a rather 

 loud tchip. 



Occurrence. — Common summer visitant to Transition and lower Canadian zones on 

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

 ville), Yosemite Valley, and Chinquapin eastward to Washburn Lake. Also common 

 migrant along west side of mountains, as at Snelling and Pleasant Valley, and along 

 east base, at Walker Lake and Mono Lake Post Office. Keeps to low shrubbery, usually 

 over damp ground, foraging 4 feet or less from ground; nests in same sort of surround- 

 ings. Solitary, or in pairs. 



The Tolmie "Warbler, often called Macgillivray Warbler, is a denizen 

 of brush at middle altitudes, living close to the ground in thickets of cherry, 

 thimble-berry, ceanothus, brakes, and other similar plants. It does not 

 commonly inhabit the dry chaparral. On the other hand, it is not so closely 

 dependent upon proximity to streams as is the Pileolated Warbler, although 

 it is at times found amid the same surroundings as the latter. The Tolmie 

 is one of the largest of our warblers and its markings render identification 

 by sight easy ; yet it is so given to keeping within the dense shrubbery that 

 it is likely to be more often heard than seen. 



The male has the whole head, throat, and breast continuously dark 

 gray, forming a cowl similar to, but not so dark as, that on the Sierra 

 Junco. The body otherwise is clear yellow beneath (with dark flanks) 

 and dull green above. (See pi. 9/i.) The female and young are colored 

 similarly save that the gray on throat and breast is paler, sometimes gray- 

 ish white. No other of our warblers is similarly marked. The Calaveras 

 Warbler which has gray on the head, has the throat and breast yellow 

 like the rest of the under surface. 



The Tolmie Warbler arrives on the west slope of the mountains in May, 

 It was already present at Hazel Green on May 14, 1919, and in Yosemite 

 Valley on May 16, the same year. Some, however, migrate northward 

 still later in the month, for the species was recorded, in 1915, at Pleasant 

 Valley on May 23 and 30, and at Snelling on May 28. East of the moun- 

 tains, where the Tolmie is thought to be solely transient in mode of occur- 

 rence, none was seen in 1916 until May 21, but immediately thereafter 

 they came with a rush and were of almost daily record until May 31. After 

 the nesting season the species is much less in evidence. Our last records 

 in 1915 on the west slope are for August 28, when individuals were seen 

 near Merced Lake and others at Washburn Lake, and for September 10 

 and 13, when single birds in migration were noted at Walker Lake. In 



