The Yosemite Cony 



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The Yosemite cony is an alpine species, found only in the 

 higher parts of the mountains above the fir belt, in the zone 

 occupied by the alpine hemlock, white-bark pine, heather, and 

 cassiope. Even within this narrow area it does not live every- 

 where, but is restricted to a single habitat, heaps or taluses of 

 broken granite. Altitudinally, the cony is found, in the Yo- 

 semite National Park, as low as 7700 feet, near Glen Aulin, on 

 the Tuolumne River; upward it ranges to about 12,000 feet, as 

 on the slopes of Mount Dana, and to the very summit of Par- 

 sons Peak, 12,120 feet. But within this restricted area the cony 

 is found in almost every glacial moraine and talus-heap. In 

 one typical rock-slide, at the head of Lyell Canon, our estimates 

 indicated a population of at least one cony per 750 square yards. 

 This would mean a population of about six per acre in suitable 

 slide-rock. The range of an individual is short, probably rarely 

 exceeding the boundaries of the rock-slide which the animal in- 

 habits. While a cony will go some distance among rocks for 

 food materials, it will not venture more than two or three yards 

 beyond the limits of shelter. 



The summer traveler in the mountains is first apprised of the 

 presence of conies by hearing one of the animals utter its far- 

 off-sounding "bleat." In fact, this note, or call, is such a valuable 

 introductory aid that even the trained field observer finds that 

 the only practicable means of locating the animals is to wait in 

 a suitable locality and listen intently until one of them utters its 

 call and then to scrutinize the area whence the sound came 

 until its maker is discerned. This call is a moderately loud two- 

 or three-syllabled utterance, and has a nasal intonation. The 

 quality of the note is such as to suggest the clinking together of 

 flakes of granite. It has been variously rendered by our field 

 observers. One writes it, yink, yink; another, ke-ack', ke-ack' , or 

 ke-ack\ ke-ack' , ke-ic'-ky; SLndsLnothcr, e-chak' ,e-chak' , chee-ick', 

 chee-ick', chee-ick'-y. Sometimes the call is uttered but once ; 

 again it may be repeated for ten or fifteen seconds, at first 

 rapidly, then more slowly, as if the cony's breath was being 

 gradually exhausted. The animal accompanies its calls with 

 certain movements which seem essential to their production 

 (figure 3). The whole body is jerked violently forward, as if 

 considerable exertion were necessary to expel the air from the 



