560 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YOSEMITE 



One evening just at sunset, in October, while our party was camped 

 near Sweetwater Creek, a winter wren was watched as it came down to 

 bathe. The bird fluttered down, half flying, half hopping, to a small pool 

 completely screened from above. It would stay a few seconds, splashing 

 in the water, and then move to a perch a few feet above the pool, soon 

 to return for another brief dip. Five or six such short visits were made 

 and then the bird returned to the perch where it stayed for a while, fluffing 

 out all its feathers, and using its bill to press out the water. Two or three 

 minutes sufificed to complete its toilet and then the wren made off down the 

 creek to a brush pile. 



The only Yosemite nest of the winter wren of which we have record 

 was seen on May 28, 1911, near Happy Isles. It was a rather bulky affair, 

 made of soft materials and situated in a tangle of pendant rootlets beneath 

 the butt of an old prostrate log. The place was shaded by incense cedars, 

 Douglas spruces, and black oaks. Beneath the log flowed a little stream 

 about 3 feet wide and the nest entrance was only 13 inches above the water. 

 Twenty feet away was the torrent of the Merced River. There were 4 

 (possibly more) large young in the nest, bnt only one of the parent birds 

 was in evidence. The presence of two trout in the stream below, and the 

 fear of these shown by the adult wren, suggested that the other member 

 of the pair might have fallen victim to one of the fishes. The parent was 

 busily engaged in feeding large green worms, millers, crane-flies, and other 

 insects to the young. A beam of light reflected into the nest from a mirror 

 did not seem to frighten the wrens and so it was possible to observe closelj'" 

 the process of feeding. The old bird made visits at intervals of 4, 9, 2, 2, 

 7, 8, and 3 minutes, respectively ; twice, at the second and the last of these 

 timed visits, the bird carried away excrement. The young void the excre- 

 ment (which is enclosed in a gelatinous sac) immediately after being fed; 

 it is dropped by them on the rim of the nest where it lies as a conspicuous 

 spherical white object, the size of a large bean. The old bird seizes this 

 in her bill and in one instance carried it away fully 50 feet before deposit- 

 ing it in a wild currant bush. One sac fell into the small stream and as 

 it floated slowly along the surface the bird snatched nervously at it again 

 and again. Finally it was recovered, whereupon the bird flew off and 

 disposed of it in the usual manner, in a place where it would give no clue 

 to the location of the nest. 



Western Marsh Wren. Telmatodytes palustris plesius (Oberholser) 



Field characters. — Bulk a little more than half that of Jimco; tail shorter than 

 body. Upper surface chiefly light brown with lengthwise light streaking; some black 

 on back and head; a conspicuous white stripe over eye; under surface dull white, brown- 

 ish on sides of body. Tail usually held up at steep angle with body. Voice: Song 

 a hurried series of 'rusty' notes; call note a sharp chuck, also a scolding sound, relocated. 



