492 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YO SEMITE 



This finch is but a summer visitant to the Yosemite section and is one 

 of the last of the lowland mi^ant species to arrive on its nesting grounds. 

 None was seen during visits to El Portal and Yosemite Valley on April 29 

 and 30, 1916, so it had probably not yet arrived in those localities. Our 

 earliest record is for May 12, 1919, when two individuals, male and female, 

 were encountered separately west of Coulterville. These were obviously 

 migrants as the species does not inhabit at nesting time the dry chaparral, 

 such as that in which the two birds in question were seen. In Yosemite 

 Valley a male was seen on May 17, 1919. At Pleasant Valley, in 1915, 

 the species was present on May 19, and was established in consideraljle 

 numbers there by May 23. East of the mountains, in 1916, the Lazuli 

 Bunting was not encountered until May 23 when a single male was 

 recorded. 



The fall departure of this bird takes place in September. One indi- 

 vidual was noted at Walker Lake on September 14, 1915, and three at 

 Grant Lake on the same date, while two, singly, were seen near Warren 

 Fork of Leevining Creek (at 9000 feet, the highest station at which we 

 saw it), on September 25, 1915. Mr. Joseph Mailliard states (1918, p. 19) 

 that in Yosemite Valley in 1917 the species became scarce toward the end 

 of September, and that his latest record was made on September 28. 



During the nesting season Lazuli Buntings live in low thickets of 

 various kinds, not on wet ground, yet within a hundred yards or so of 

 streams or caiion beds. The males perch at the tops of the taller bushes 

 or the smaller trees to sing, but the females remain closely within the 

 shelter of the vegetation and are far less often seen. At Pleasant Valley, 

 on May 23, 1915, adults to the number of 24 were recorded during a 4-hour 

 census; singing males were spaced about 100 to 200 yards apart along 

 the Merced River and tributary ravines. At Snelling 10 were observed 

 amid blackberries and nettles, during a 3-hour census on May 26, 1915. 

 Four males were noted at El Portal on the morning of May 31, 1915. The 

 song season in Yosemite lasts through July, for a male was heard singing 

 in the Valley on July 24 (1915). 



The Lazuli Bunting is one of our most persistent singers. It does not 

 confine its utterances to the morning and early evening hours, but is heard 

 if anything less often at those times than during the warmest part of the 

 day. In our memory the song is associated with the drowsy heat of early 

 afternoon. The song is rather high pitched, like that of the California 

 Yellow Warbler, yet is not nearly so shrill. It is rather set in character. 

 Certain syllables may be added or dropped, but the general theme remains 

 the same, and is uttered over and over again at intervals of about 12 

 seconds. One of our transcriptions of the song is as follows: see-sec-see,. 



