558 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YOSEMITE 



being made about 7 minutes apart. The individual which did the singing 

 carried most of the sticks, and it often scolded and chased the mate when 

 the latter ventured to look into the nest hole. On June 23, a nest was 

 observed in an old one-quart oil can which was hanging inside a building. 

 (See pi. 54&.) The entrance hole of the can was barely large enough 

 (exactly one inch in diameter), for a parent to pass through. Both adults 

 were bringing food for the six young birds which the nest contained. On 

 June 26 a third nest was found in a natural cavity in an aspen growing 

 near Parker Creek, at an altitude of 7500 feet. There were 7 eggs in this 

 nest. 



Western Winter Wren. Nannus hiemalis pacificus (Baird) 



Field characters. — Smallest of the wrens; body size less than half that of Junco; 

 tail but little more than an inch in length. Coloration dark reddish brown, below as 

 well as above ; an indistinct light line over eye. Tail held always up at steep angle with 

 back. Movements of bird quick ; squats every now and then. Voice : A rather extended 

 and varied song of rapid delivery and high pitch; call note, tschep, often given twice 

 in quick succession. 



Occurrence. — Sparse summer visitant at middle altitudes on west slope of Sierra 

 Nevada; observed in Yosemite Valley and at Merced Grove Big Trees. Winter visitant 

 in fair numbers to Yosemite Valley, to El Portal, and to Smith Creek east of Coulter- 

 ville. Lives amid root tangles and brush heaps near streams. Solitary. 



The smallest and most reclusive of the wrens in the Yosemite region 

 is the Western Winter Wren. It lives at the middle altitudes, amid freshet- 

 bared tangles of rootlets and accumulations of drift materials along shaded 

 stream courses. The bird is of small size (scarcely so large as a kinglet), 

 and wears a livery of rich dark bro^vn which harmonizes well with its 

 shadowy surroundings. These features, together with its retiring dis- 

 position, make of it a species to be seen only Avhen particularly sought 

 for and then only under favoring circumstances. 



There are Western Winter Wrens in the Yosemite region at practically 

 all times of year, but a larger number of individuals is present in winter, 

 and the species is then to be found in several places not inhabited in sum- 

 mer. Whether the summer population moves out with the coming of 

 fall is not known, but it is obvious that a considerable quota arrives from 

 the north in October and remains here for at least a part of the winter 

 season. 



During the summer the Western Winter Wren is extremely local, 

 having been found by us only at Merced Grove Big Trees (June 15, 1915), 

 and in Yosemite Valley near foot of Vernal Falls (May 24, 1911) and 

 near Happy Isles (May 28, 1911). Bradford Torrey (1910, p. 79) records 

 finding a singing bird near "the footpath below Vernal Falls," on May 18, 

 and June 14 and 27, 1009. Mr. Donald D. McLean reports that the species 



