554 ANIMAL LIFE IX THE YOSEMITE 



The song of the Caiion Wren is one of its most notable features. Many 

 wrens have throaty or bubbling' song^ ; but only in it.s call note does this 

 species utter anything like the notes of its relatives. The song is a series 

 of clear undiilating musical whistles, starting high and, ^vith indi^'^dual 

 notes well separated but with lessening intervals, descending gradually 

 in pitch to an abrupt low ending. Some songs studied in detail in- 

 cluded ten to fifteen notes. The call, a rather hoarse, low-pitched hzert, 

 is uttered now and then when the birds are foraging. The song is to be 

 heard at any time of day, from dawn until dark, throughout the nesting 

 season ; and it does not entirely cease when the broods are reared, for we 

 have heard it during late July and August. There is a revival or con- 

 tinuance of song in winter. For instance, on December 19, 1914, one of 

 these birds on the cliff near Yosemite Falls gave three full songs at late 

 dusk (5:05 P.M.) when the air was freezing cold and icicles two feet in 

 length were hanging from the rocks. 



The nest of the Caiion Wren is commonly placed on ledges in rock 

 caverns, but in the foothills of the Yosemite countrj^ situations in weathered 

 buildings are sometimes used. Near Lagrange, on May 8 and 9, 1919, a 

 pair of these birds was engaged in carrying food to a brood of young in 

 a downward slanting crevice at the base of an earth bank in a ravine. 

 The nest was not in sight but was evidently located somewhere below the 

 level of the ground outside. 



At Pleasant Valley a nest under construction on May 17, 1^15, was 

 situated inside a storehouse, on a beam beneath the gable and about fifteen 

 feet from the floor. On May 25 there were 3 fresh eggs which by May 30 

 had been increased to 5, 3 of which at that time showed the beginnings 

 of incubation. The base of the nest was composed of a pile of irregularly 

 placed twigs, upon which had been heaped scraps of rotted wood and other 

 debris, while the inner wall was thickly felted with old cotton and then 

 lined separately with mammal hair. Another nest, in which a brood had 

 been reared, was in the station house at the same place. Two fully fledged 

 young birds were seen there on May 29, 1915. A brood of bob-tailed young 

 was seen on the north wall of Yosemite Valley near Rocky Point on 

 July 27, 1915. 



The short irregular movements of the Canon Wren when hopping 

 about the rocks are made largely for the purpose of spying out food. The 

 bird darts here and there, examining crannies and crevices and making 

 selections from the insect population to be found in such places. The wren 

 seen in the cabin at El Portal gathered large numbers of the flies and 

 spiders which had been benumbed by the chilling cold of an early Decem- 

 ber morning; it was an easy matter then for the wren to accumulate a 

 meal in short order; but later in the day, as the insects became warmed 



