Vol. XXIJ WiUMANN, Yosemite Valley Birds. 67 



and recreation for all times." This carries with it the prohibition 

 of introducing firearms. From November till April shootists are 

 kept out by the deep snows, which make access to the valley dif- 

 ficult. When the season opens in spring a detachment of U. S. 

 cavalry assists the State guardian in the work of policing the park, 

 and the great number of birds speaks well for their efficiency. It 

 is not only the comparatively large number of species that sur- 

 prises the visitor, but still more so the great number of individuals 

 of many of these species, and their extraordinary tameness. From 

 the veranda, there called piazza, of the Sentinel Hotel annex I 

 could easily count from one to two dozen species any time of the 

 day, and among them such woodland birds as the Pileated Wood- 

 pecker and Hermit Thrush. The Ruby-crowned Kinglet had its 

 bulky nest on the very next tree, an old incense-cedar {Libocedrus 

 decurrens), not more than thirty-five feet from the veranda and on 

 the side of the tree nearest to the house. 



Not far from it a pair of Brown Creepers went in and out feed- 

 ing young in a nest only six feet from the ground under the bark 

 of another old Libocedrus. At one time a Green Towhee, a 

 Spurred Towhee, a White-crowned Sparrow and a Thick-billed 

 Fox Sparrow were feeding peacefully together on one square yard 

 of ground under the veranda, while half a dozen J uncos and Chip- 

 pies w^ere also hopping about. 



Part of this richness of the ornis may be attributable to weather 

 conditions, in so far as some of the birds may have been driven 

 down from the neighboring peaks by the snow which fell on the 

 day of our arrival, May 21, 1903. In fact, all forenoon, from 

 seven, when we started in the open stage from Wawona, till our 

 arrival at the Sentinel Hotel at noon, snow fell continually, some- 

 times at a lively rate, and mixed with hail on the highest point of 

 the stage route, said to be seven thousand feet above the sea. 

 The valley itself is only four thousand feet high, but the enclosing 

 peaks average four thousand feet higher and form with their 

 nearly vertical walls and magnificent waterfalls the sublime 

 grandeur for which the valley is deservedly world-renowned. 



But while the lofty peaks and granite domes, the spiry pinnacles. 

 and roaring cataracts make it grand and glorious beyond descrip- 

 tion, it is the rich organic life, the great variety of I^eautiful forms. 



y 



