GARTER SNAKES 639 



be related to the presence or absence of garter snakes in these respective 

 localities. Although 'cold-blooded' animals form the greater portion of 

 the food of these snakes, they are not averse to taking birds or mammals 

 when occasion offers. At Mono Lake Post Office on May 30, 1916, a Wan- 

 dering Garter Snake was found trying to swallow a barely fledged young 

 Modoc Song Sparrow. Both of the parent birds were highly excited and 

 flew at the snake repeatedly. 



The garter snakes, even in the lowlands, are seen but little during the 

 colder portions of the year, while at the higher altitudes they spend several 

 months in continuous hibernation. At Walker Lake a Wandering Garter 

 Snake was picked up at 9 o'clock on the morning of September 13, 1915. 

 It was some distance from water and so cold and torpid that it made 

 practically no effort to escape. It would probably soon have gone into 

 winter quarters in some sheltered crevice in the rocks. Tracks of a garter 

 snake were seen near Snow Flat on October 5, 1915, but no evidence of 

 activity was obtained after that date anywhere in the Yosemite region. 

 By the third week of May, 1919, garter snakes were becomdng active in 

 Yosemite Valley. One seen wriggling across a road. May 21, near the 

 Valley wall and going toward the river meadows, may have only just 

 emerged from hibernation. 



Western Ring-necked Snake 

 Diadophis amabilis amabilis Baird and Girard 



Field characters. — Size small, body diameter usually not larger than a lead pencil, 

 total length usually under 15 inches (380 mm.). Upper surface plain slaty olive; a 

 whitish or reddish collar around neck; under surface of body red (of varying hue in 

 different specimens), marked with numerous fine dots of black. Scales on back smooth, 

 in 15 (rarely 17) crosswise rows. 



Occurrence. — Sparse resident at middle altitudes. Recorded at Pleasant Valley 

 (Mus. Vert. Zool.) and in Yosemite Valley (Stejneger, North American Fauna, no. 7, 

 1893, p. 204). Inhabits shaded ground, keeping usually under leafy debris, logs, or 

 boulders. 



The Western Ring-necked Snake was not found by our party, but its 

 presence in the Yosemite region is established by the two records of it 

 given above. This is the smallest of all the snakes which occur in the 

 Yosemite section ; the usual run of individuals found measure 15 inches 

 or less in total length, while the body diameter is usually less than %6 

 inch. The Western Ring-necked Snake is a quiet, inoffensive species, and 

 feeds chiefly upon insects. An individual when suddenly uncovered, as 

 when a stone or log is turned over, will sometimes lie with its brilliant 

 undersurface uppermost and feign death. Under such circumstances, too, 

 the tail of the snake is often curled in a tight spiral with the bright red 

 under surface exposed. 



