CANON WEEN 555 



iTp, the bird did not fare so successfully. The Canon Wrens which inhabit 

 the walls of the Yosemite Valley seem to find adequate forage in the 

 crevices of the granite and amid the jagged rocks of the talus slopes, where 

 they go into all sorts of dark corners- in their searches for food. The 

 mantle of snow in midwinter is no hindrance to their activity. The birds 

 then work far back in the protected caverns, often altogether beyond the 

 reach of the human eye. Only the echoing hzert indicates their presence 

 there. 



San Joaquin Bewick Wren. Thryomanes bewicki drjonoecus Oberholser 



Field characters. — About half bulk of Junco; smaller than Canon or Rock Wren, 

 but larger than House and Winter Wren; tail, long, nearly as long as body. Plumage 

 plain dull brown above, ashy white beneath; a conspicuous white line over eye; grayish 

 white patches on ends of outer tail feathers. (See pi. 53(Z.) Movements jerky. Voice: 

 Song of male a lively series of notes, full of sibilants, ending in three or four clear 

 calls, seek, seek, suk, terrr, tuh, whoit, sect seet, sect, tsee; call note a hoarse tserk, also 

 a softer chee-chee-chee-chee. 



Occurrence. — Common resident chiefly of Upper Sonoran Zone, on west slope of 

 Sierra Nevada. Recorded from El Portal and near Coulterville westward to Lagrange 

 and Snelling. Forages in mixed growths, more often in brush than in trees. Solitary. 



The San Joaquin Wren, a local race of the widely distributed Bewick 

 Wren (called Vigors Wren in some books on western birds), 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 Cafion 

 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 growths comprising small trees and brush. 



This wren is nowhere abundant. Individuals or pairs are located at 

 wide intervals through the chaparral country, usually so far apart that 

 not more than one bird will be \^athin hearing from a single post of obser- 

 vation. Our records show that in a 4-hour census at Pleasant Valley, on 

 May 23, 1915, 6 were heard in song; an equal number were noted during 

 3 hours of observation at Snelling, on May 26, 1915. At El Portal in 

 November and December, 1914, only one or two of the birds were recorded 

 in an average forenoon's reconnoissance. But then they were more quiet 

 and more absorbed in foraging under dense cover. 



The garb of the San Joaquin Wren is quite plain, being dull brown 

 above and ashy white beneath. Over the eye is a conspicuous white stripe 

 which at all times forms the best single character for sight identification 

 of the species. (See pi. 53^.) When moving about in its favorite haunts 



