122 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



The near vicinity of waterfalls and roaring cascades 

 appeared to repel most birds, very few indeed seeming 

 to enjoy their proximity. The blue-fronted jay with its 

 tall crest and very dark hues, was one bird, however, 

 which we saw close to both Vernal and Nevada falls, 

 even in the spray-drenched trees at the very foot. The 

 jays were noted elsewhere, too, though the silence which 

 characterizes their nesting season doubtless led to our 

 considering them less common than was really the case. 



We wondered if it were not the continual noise of the 

 cataracts that rendered their neighborhood objectionable 

 to birds of song, like vireos, robins, warblers, and 

 thrushes. At any rate these were seldom or never seen 

 in such locaHties. Still, one bird of song, the water- 

 ouzel, disported itself with frequent bursts of melody 

 right in the spray of roaring rapids. And we were 

 fortunate to locate two winter wrens, both close to the 

 raging torrent below Vernal Falls. A stroke of still 

 better luck was our finding the nest of one of the winter 

 wrens. This nest was a globular af¥air of green moss 

 in a tangle of fine roots dangling beneath the butt of a 

 prostrate log, twenty feet from the main stream and 

 directly over a small tributary. By the use of a mirror 

 to throw a beam of light up under the dark log, we were 

 able to make out the nest opening and the mouths of four 

 small young which gaped wide when the parent bird 

 brought them food. The mother showed little fear of 

 us, and despite our manipulations in trying to get pic- 

 tures, continued her breathless endeavor to bring green 

 larvae and millers and crane-flies enough to satisfy the 

 mouths. 



There was but the one parent, and we thought it pos- 

 sible that some hungry trout, of which we saw two lurking 

 in the stream which dashed but thirteen inches beneath 

 the nest, had gobbled up her mate. A winter wren is cer- 

 tainly not too large to make a comfortable mouthful for 

 a fair-sized trout with a full-sized appetite! 



