62 



YOSEMITE NATURE NOTES 





Yosemitc Cony, or Pika. 



Photo by Parrott 



other vegetation are gathered and placed 

 in piles among the rocks to cure in the 

 alpine sun. Apparently this is done in 

 anticipation of the long winter in those 

 altitudes, when the rock slide may lie 

 under eight to fifteen feet of snow. At 

 that season, the cony has a store of food 

 placed 'high and dry" to carry it over 

 the winter. These piles seem to belong to 

 individuals, which defend them vigorous- 

 ly against other pikas, although evidence 

 cited in Animal Life in the Yosemite 

 (Grinnell and Storer) indicates that a 

 female and her young may make a group 

 cache. 



Rocks used as observation posts usually 

 contain many droppings about }^ inch 

 in diameter and resembling shot in ap- 

 pearance. These signs, together with hay 

 piles when present, will indicate whether 

 a particular slide is occupied by conies. 



The sheltering rocks protect conies 

 from most predatory enemies, except for 

 three members of the weasel family who 

 "use" the same territory — the Sierra pine 



marten, the Sierra least weasel, and the 

 mountain weasel. They hunt for conies 

 and are undoubtedly successful on occa- 

 sion, for when one of these potential ene- 

 mies appears, the pikas become quite ex- 

 cited and "bleat" for all they are worth, 

 indicating that an enemy is recognized. 

 M.irmots and bushy-tailed wood rats also 

 inhabit the same slides, but there is no 

 evidence to indicate that they do not 

 get along with the conies. 



The white-tailed jackrabbit is an- 

 other denizen of our high country. It 

 seems to prefer rather flat, sparsely wood- 

 ed terrain having some bushes present 

 for thick cover, but ranges up to old 

 plateaus over 12,000 feet in elevation. In 

 the Yosemite Museum is a specimen from 

 Merced Lake, 7200 feet. Rangers report 

 white-tails along the Glacier Point Road 

 in winter at about the same elevation. 



In this region it is commonly called 

 "snowshoe rabbit," but that name appar- 

 ently belongs to a much smaller hare 

 which ranges in the north, no race of 



