November 1928

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR HUBERT WORK, SECRETARY NATIONAL PARK SERVICE STEPHEN T. MATHER, DIRECTOR YOSEMITE NATURE NOTES VOL. VII

November 1928 NO.ii 'Ll f' F7\ 90 READ THE TRAIL-SII:L"'

YOSEMITE NAI II1NA1

This is the official publication of the Educational Department of Yosemite National Park, It is published each month the National Park Service with the cooperation of the Yosemite Natural History Association, and its purpose is to <ur;piv dependable information on the natural history and scientific features of. Yosemite National Park. The articles pub.ished herein are not copyrighted as it is intended that they shall be freely used by the press. Communications should be addressed to C. P. Russell, Park Natura is 1, Yosemite National Park, California.

F. P. E FA V I TT

A :ting Su nerrlitendrI

YOSEMITE NATURE NOTES THE PUBLICATION OF THE YOSEMITE EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT AND THE YOSEMITE NATURAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION

Published monthly Volume Vii November 1928 Number I i

UNTIMELY END OF A GOLDEN-MANTLED GROUND SQUIRREL

By William C Godfrey r Among the inhabitants of the loose bark of the fallen trunk and Canadian and Hudsonian life zones the other in the shade of a dead in Yosemite is a friendly little limb dropped from the massive squirrel whose copper gold head frame of a giant sequoia. As and breast immediately attract though to break the monotony, the one's attention. The two white squirrel on the ground moved tostrips, bounded above and below by ward the dry creek bed near the a broad, black one, which extend road. He hesitated before crossing along the sides of the chubby body, the dusty, tire-tracked path of man, are cause for the common mistake then started toward the other side. that ihts is a chipmunk. However, That was a fateful decision. Half it lacks the stripings on the side of way across, the squirrel was sudthe head which are good identifidenly set upon by a sinuous, slencation characters for all the chipder-bodied assassin which apparrnunks. ently sprang out of nowhere very Though properly found among much into the middle of things. the wild fauna and flora of the reThere was a brief struggle in the glon which it inhabits, the goldendust, a shrill cry from the defensemantled ground squirrel has come dust less, creature, which brought a to dwell around camps and resorts. startled playmate from the fir log in time to witness a mountain where it lives in almost semi-d o-,easel's triumph, and all was still rnestication, a real part, indeed, of in the summer heat once more. the charm of the surroundings. Dropping the lifeless body of its One very warm afternoon in the victim in the middle of the road, lazy month of August, when all life the weasel retreated towards the seemed content to rest in the stilldry creek, where it inhabited one of ness and heat waves shimmered up the several holes in the bank. through the trees of the Mariposa.Examination of the unlucky vieGrove, my attention was drawn by tim showed only one wound—teetthe incongruous exhibition of activmarks in the neck, just above the ay on the part of two of these redshoulder. The weasel is a deadly heads. They chased each other foe, and the golden-mantled ground around a white fir log and scamsquirrels which have befriended pored playfully along its top. man have found a real protection. The stopped suddenly, one on the from this one of their enemies.

YUat:Ml '1't NATURE NOTES

THE DEER LICK IN LITTLE YOSEMITE

by Donald McLean At the muacty puddle about a The deer had bitten out the clay quarter of a mile beyond the Little with their lower front teeth, strip. Yosemite High Sierra camp, it is ping it off in thin layers. When a not uncommon to see a large uum strip of clay is bitten off, it is rolled her of deer. 1 becarne interested in abort in the mouth, part of it is trying to find out why they were dropped o.i the ground in the form always there in such numbers. of mud and the remainder is appal. My group of hikers walked around ently swallowed. the south end of the mudhole, and Wherever this peculiarly colored their about thirty feet from the creamy. chalky clay is found along eoge of the water was located a the edge of this meadow, the surhole about two feet deep by thirty face is invariably nibbled and inches wide at the top. but wider scraped with their teeth. underground. This hole had been Tests will be made of the soil in eaten out by deer in an effort to an effort to find out what kind of secure salts from the soil. salts are present.

OUR STRIPED FRIEND

1)y C. H. 3neal The striped skunk is one of our about twenty feet. The rear of our best known and least appreciated tent has a flap up for• ventilation wild animals. Abhorred by nearly A few nights ago we heard toe all people and seen by but few, he garbage pail bang. Suspecting Lt e has inherited such a reputation that source of the noise, we stuck..u: the very mention of his name heads out of the rear of the tcct causes disgust. This is not altoto get a glimpse of our visitor gether warranted. He has many There he was in all his glory. under admirable qualities. the full glare of the electric light A large skunk has for many We exclaimed in wonder at his months frequented the garbage pail beauty. Much larged than most behind a house in Camp 19. lust domestic cats, his black coat glistenabove the pail is an electric light ing in the light, his white bordered burning all night. Many times tatstail held aloft, plumelike, he -was in the evening he has been met t.y a vision not easily forgotten. His the occupants of the house. Soru disposition equaled his appeararore times they have passed him as cioa : Giving no heed to our talking, t,o as a few feet and he has at no time continued eating until the supply shown a tendency to display is was exhausted. When he had finprowess. ished eating, he sauntered toward us, neither afraid nor aggressive. The back of our tent parallels Looking at us as he passed along the house next door at a distance of the tent, he was soon lost to view

THE AUDUBON WARBLER

By Enid Michael uring the last eight years ten ferent species of warblers have en noted on the floor of Yosemite Iley. Of the ten the following are gular summer visitants that nest the floor of the valley : Calaeas, yellow, Audubon, blackThe Audubon Warbler Mated grey. hermit and Tolma arblers. The pileolated warbler nts above the rim of the valley 0 lutescent warbler, the yellow rent and the song-tailed chat onl; e into the valley as rare strag Of all these warblers the Audu bon (Dendraica auduboni) is the only one to remain in the valley during the winter months. The others have left the valley by the middie of October, and they do not betin to appear until some time in;pril of the following spring. It seems strange that the Audubon should be the lone representative of the warbler tribe during the winter months. The explanation is prob- -ably to be found in the feeding hat). its of the Audubon. which are vastly different from all the warbler's mentioned above. Our summer warblers are foliage feeders and spend most of their time searching among the leaves of tree or shrub in pursuit of insects. Each species has its own peculiar forage lanes Some feed in the oaks, some in the willows, and some in the pines Some feed high in the tall trees; some feed in the low-growing bushes. During the summer months the Audubons feed in the normal warbler manner. That is. they are foil age-feeding birds, for the mast part Occasionally, however. they will practice the flycatcher art and da, into the air to take insects on th wing. Either the Audubon warblers fa, outnumber• all other warblers of the dsstr+et or there is a. concentration of migrating birds who use the Ye Semite valley as a channel to lead them to the high gauntry, where they again scatter out In any event early in May a vast migratory wav-of Audubons sweeps through the•

valley. - The wave rolls on, a seat.- •ering of ' birds follows the wave

t)b Yt)M MI'I E NATURE NOTES and a few pairs not carried on by age lanes no longer lead through the wave remain to nest in the val the conifers, for now their hunting ley. is confined to the broad-leaved Late in the fall, when all other trees and to the open meadows. Be warblers are well on the way to fore going to the mountains, they winter haunts, the Audubons again were insectivorous birds; on their become common in the Yosemite. return to the valley they are omni Presumably, these are birds that vorous feeders, and their diet conpassed through the valley in spring silts of berries and weed seeds, as and are now on their way out of well as insects. It is an odd sight the high mountains. Through the to see a warbler swinging on v fall months there is a scattering weed stalk and picking off seeds in number of Audubons present in the the manner of a goldfinch. Through valley. Then toward the end of Octhe fall and winter months certain tober or early in November, sun individuals among the Audubons

denly some morning Audubons are consort with the western bluebirds everywhere. This is the outgoing and each little band of bluebirds wave that carries the last of the will be accompanied by one or two warblers out of the high mountains warblers. before the winter storms set in In all the years that we mainAnd usually stormy weather follows tained a feeding table for birds, the close behind the outgoing throng. Audubon was the only warbler to A few pairs of Audubons are left take advantage of our offerings—a behind to spend the winter in the fact which might seem to prove warm pocket about the mouth of that he is a more versatile feeder Indian canyon. than his relatives. This versatility During their sojourn in the h ' g '' may he the attribute that makes it mountains, it would seem that. the possible for him to winter through Audubons develop new tastes and in a country that is deserted by at; acquire new feeding habits. On other species of warblers. their return to the valley, their to.SO;I.\L FISH?

Lv L. J. Henrich visitors at the fish hatchery are lower end of the trough whereas often intrigued by the way in which the "peppy" ones seemed unable to the young fish congregate in great get close enough to the oxygen numbers in certain favored spots of found beneath the falls and spent the troughs. Water in the remain. most of their time in-practicing the ing parts of the trough may be relahigh jump preparatory to the big tively clear of fish. Being asked, as a jumps they would take in later life nature guide assigned to duty there, I soon discontinued this line of for an explanation, I set myself the thought. I observed that the fish task of trying to solve it. kept in the troughs outside tn.. My first thought was oxygenabuilding where the water flows into tion. Some recent experiments with the troughs from the opposite end humans seem to show that carbon (the east) congregated on the west dioxide under pressure is helpful for end of the pool in the morning and certain types of diseases. I had not close to the falls as the oxygen noted the ill and ailing fish at the hc'ory would demand.

The probable solution came to me stantiated by the attendant, who one dark afternoon when I saw told me that at night the fish did what happened inside the building not congregate but distributed when the lights were turned off at themselves more or less evenly 4 o'clock. The fish turned around, throughout the troughs. One wonswam with the current and then reders if many another "gragariousdistributed themselves closer to the ness" found in nature might not be windows. It was light apparently due to some such simple environthat caused the phenomena of mental factor as light, heat. food, grouping. etc.-. The light theory was further subAGAIN THE PILEATED WOODPECKERS By Enid Michael In the Stockton Record of SepIn the evening they would be seen tember 1, 1928, under the heading flying high and headed up the valof Yosemite Nature Notes, there ley. The point is that the pileated appeared an item carrying this woodpeckers traveled consistantly heading: "Has Yosemite's Pileated as a pair. Now if it is the habit of Woodpecker Found a Companion?" pileated woodpeckers to travel as a The last sentence of this article pair is it not more resonable to reads as follows : "Whether the oldsuppose that a pair moved into Yotimer (the old-timer being the semite, rather than that a lone bird pileated Woodpecker who has wansomehow discovered another lone dered alone about the valley for bird? these several years past), has found It so happened that I too heard a companion or whether there has the report that two pileated woodbeen an invasion of two strangers peckers had been seen in Camp 8, is yet to be determined, but there and being much interested in these is a strong suspicion that the forgrand woodpeckers I made several mer explanation is correct." trips into the district about Camp Now the question is, why the 8 in hope of seeing the pair. Luck strong suspicion that the pileated was against me and I failed to find them. On three occasions subsewoodpecker who traveled so many years alone has found a companion? quent to the report, however, I did see the lonely old male, and on In the fact that two pileated woodeach occasion he was still quite peckers were seen there is nothing alone. Should I perhaps have a to indicate that one of these was strong suspicion that the "old-timthe "old-timer." In the old days er" was so set in his habits that he when there was a pair of these birds in the valley the birds of the could not get along with his new pair were constant companions. found companion? They had a regular beat and day If I were given to strong susaPter day they might be seen topicions I might suspect that somegether. In the morning they would one had been seeing double. Howwander down the valley, stopping ever, I do not doubt the two woodon the way to explore all likely peckers for I see no reason why a looking prospects in search of food. pair should not move into the val ley.

CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE

By J. B. Hers.alier The Field School students had on the day before, made a sudden just located in their allotted part of break for camp to reappear shorLCamp 7. The opening session of ly, scanning the pages of the preschool was held in the afternoon of vious day. In a few moments there June 25, and in that period had rewas an exclamation of "I have it, ceived instruction from Dr. Bryant I have it! It's a traily flycatcher!" on how to study Nature. The foiand sure enough it was, for there in lowing morning he was going to the notebook was written a descripgive them the "low down" on it by tion of this very bird and its call the method of actual contact, adnotes. ministered in the form of a field At the time the nest was found trip. it contained four eggs, which is the Just to prove that his efforts usual number. Not knowing how were not in vain and that power of long incubation had been in progstudent observation had been stunress, close watch was kept by many ulated, a bird nest was discovered of the students, and on the mornJune 27 in an azalea bush just at ing of July 4 two young birds dethe edge of camp. The nest was 'tpdared their independence by doing proximately 36 inches above the away with their eggshell covering, ground and situated in a crotcn and by night a third was hatched. formed by four branches growing Next morning the nest still confrom a single support. It was cons tained one unhatched egg, but by posed of dry grass, weed stems, p. m. there were four tiny, fuzzy cord and thread and lined with babies snuggling in the bottom of horsehair. this well-made home. Of course, at the time of discovEvery clay the babies had severer ery no one could truthfully say what student callers, who would stc; kind of bird had built it. The while on their way to and from tinmother was quite close, to be sure, museum to see how they were b. and kept uttering her call note, ing cared for. They must have been

which had a sort of familiar sound, well fed, for they certainly did a sound which took the student grow fast, and in a little over a minds back to the field trip of the week the nest looked as though it morning before. Also they could would have to be enlarged. hear Dr. Bryant saying, "Hear that preparation had been made for call note; get it. Listen nowan all-day field trip with an early wheet, wheet, wheet-p'-teer, wheatstart, and in order to visit the birds p'teer. Did you get it then?" that day a call was made about 6 Evidently they did not get it, a. m. To the visitor's surprise and and for quite some time stood in sorrow, he had the experience of bewilderment, wondering what 'find watching five baby weasels and of bird it could be. Finally an their parents romp and play;specially active mind, rememberthrough the branches of the bush ing that notebooks had been carried and over the ground underneath,

C9 the place our beloved birds were the worst had happened. The nest being cared for, was torn apart and no trace ',f Upon return that evening, anothbirds could be found. It was she er visit was made to.find the birds fact that no feathers could be found all snug and safe in their little that saved the weasels from a conhome. However, an early morning viction of circumstantial evidence call a few days later revealed that and placed the crime on the long list of Nature's mysteries.

FISH HATCHERY HAS ADDITIONS

By Robert P. Hays Some fine new additions have rethe Golden trout. About sixteen of cently been built at the Yosemite these fish, generally considered the fish hatchery. Through the summost beautiful of all trout, due to mer, a force of men has been at their bright golden and red color, work completing the aquaria in the are to be seen actively swimming exhibit room and the out-of-door about. They range in size from retaining pond. These new instaleight to fourteen inches in length. lations should add perceptibly to the larger ones being somewhat the value of the hatchery as a place over the average length of those for disseminating knowledge pertaken from their native streams. taining to the trout found in the This species was found originally park and to the method of propaonly in the headwaters of the Kern gation. river in the vicinity of Mount WhitFour splendid aquaria are now to ney in two small isolated streams, be found in the exhibit room, with namely, Volcano and Coyote creeks. specimens of Rainbow, Eastern Since their discovery, the Golden Brook, Loch Leven and Golden trout have created no little interest trout. These are being viewed and comment and are now being daily by the many visitors who go reared in the Whitney and Shasta to Happy Isles to see the hatchery. hatcheries to be planted in many of Most of these trout on exhibit the higher Sierra streams and were captured on a special fishing lakes. expedition for that purpose by GovThese particular specimens were ernor Young, Chief Ranger Townstaken from Fletcher and Townsley Icy and some members of the ranger lakes, where they were planted six force, who accompanied the Goveryears ago. Up until this August, both of these lakes and Fletcher nor over the route of the High creek have been closed to fisherSierra camps. They brought back men, while the trout had a chance several hundred trout, which are to become established. Apparentiy, now found at the fish hatchery. these waters will be visited by a Perhaps the exhibit which excites large number of fishermen next the most comment and yields the season after they see the size of the largest share of interest is the tank trout taken out for exhibit purnearest the rearing troughs, holding poses.

The other three aquaria hold of the hatchery, is a fairly large Eastern Brook trout obtained from sized, kidney-shaped concrete and Washburn lake, and Rainbow trout granite structure with a rock founfrom Merced lake, the Merced river tain supplying the water from the and Lake Eleanor. The latest arcenter. This will be used for a rivals are Loch Leven, taken from brood pond, holding trout through the Merced river and from Mirror out the winter months, and should lake. Altogether, there are now on afford the visitors a good oppor exhibit four representative species tunity to see large trout which of trout caught in Yosemite waters. have been reared in the hatchery In time, no doubt, all ten varieties Since so many have asked to saw• now found within the boundaries trout older than the ones reared of the park can be shown, for stocking the streams and lake The out-of-door display pond, there will soon be available a place which will make a great improvewhere all sizes and perhaps many merit in the general surroundingsspecies can be seen.

FLATWORMS AND ROUNDWORMS

By Dorothy C. Barber One day while the Yosemite feature was still more apparent. School of Field Natural History When the worm was held on the was investigating a pond in Sentipalm of the hand, it seemed to nel Meadow, a member cried out fasten itself down by one end and suddenly, "I've found a flatworm." to explore, in undulating waves, Great numbers of these actively with the other. This sucker-irk.' wriggling, flattened, dark brown device reminded us of the Leeches. worms were found in the mud at and that is what it proved to be— the endge of the pool. Evidently a fresh water leech. On further they disliked light. for, as soon as examination we found the leech tv they were exposed, they bored possess not only the posterior hastily down into the mud again. sucker for attachment, but a smali Now was this form a true flatanterior sucker and mouth cornworm? Most of us were accusbined, through which it could get toured to finding true flatworms in food from the decaying animal and cold, fresh running streams, under vegetable matter in the mua, or rocks; this pool was without inlet could suck liquid food from living or outlet and was, consequently, animals if it should come in eonstagnant. The next point to be tact with them. lecided was whether this form was On a later field trip, true flat;egmented or not, since one of the worms or planarians were found distinctions between flatworms and These worms were only one-fourth segmented worms is the fact that of an inch long when fully extendthe segmented worms show transed, showed no segmentation, moved verse grooves indicating that the by gliding slowly over the subwhole body is divided into units; stratus, instead of looping along by that is, the body is segmented. means of sucker, and showed very Even with the naked eye the soplainly that they belong to an encalled "flatworm" showed this segtirely different group from that of mentation. With a hand lens this the flatworms.

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YOSEMITE NATURAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK CALIFORNIA

!l, I.. ear Friend: Here are three good reasors why you should become a member of the Yosemite Natural History Asslciation: 1. It will keep you in touch with Yosemite through "Yosemite Nature Notes".

It offers you opportunity to secure NATURE MAGAZINE, AMERICAN FORESTS AND FOREST LIFE, or both, at an unprecedented low price.

You materially aid a non-profiting Government educational activity (The Yosemite Museum and its attendant nature guide service) when you remit your membership fee. Please read a sample of "Yosemite Nature E Notes", consider our purposes, and don't overlook the benefits of the combination offers with the American Nature Association and the American Forestry Association. Remit by check or money order. Cordially yours, C. P. Russell Park Naturalist