February 1936

HALF DOME and CLOUD'S REST As seen from Glacier Point Courtesy of Standard Oil Co. of Calif. February 1936 'Volume xv Number 2

THE PUBLICATION OF THE YOSEMITE NATURALIST DEPARTMENT AND THE YOSEMITE NATURAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION

Published Monthly Volume xv February 1936 Number 2 A September Morning on the Bank of the Merced (Ranger-Naturalist Enid Michael) Summer has gone from the Valley. The sun moves south and of the acorn crop. Soon will be busy days for the California each day the shadow of the great Woodpeckers as they store away south wall reaches farther out fat acorns against the lean days of across the Valley floor. Stray maples and dogwoods are beginning to show the first spangles of winter. A Cooper Hawk moves into the neighborhood. A warning shout from the Blue-fronted Jay sends all waters of the river the Belted Kingbirds to cover. The hawk takes a fisher may pluck a fish at will and perch on a dead stub where he may for the present he is not so keen command a view of the meadow to protect his fishing rights along and prepares to wait, for he knows his particular stretch of water. that the memory of little birds is Lusty young kingfishers ride the river lane together, rattling their short. I sit in the shadow of a willow clump, willing to match patience with the hawk. All is silent water buttercups will float pearly until a flock of Brewer Blackbirds islands of bloom on the still pools. fly overhead. They do not see the Coffee-berries are now ripe and hawk and the hawk makes no move. it is feasting time for Grosbeak, A flock of blackbirds can make Tanager and Band-tailed Pigeons. even a killer hawk unhappy. The grosbeaks and tanagers are taking their last fill before winging Warbler sings, other birds speak up south to their winter homes. The pigeons will stay on to collect acorns and begin to move about. The Flycatchers have forgotten the hawk.

Olive-sided, Trail and Wood Pewee makes off in a hurry. The sound are active again and I can hear the of stiff wings suggest her relationship to the woodpeckers. A little snap of mandibles as insects are plucked from the air. The big Olive-sided Flycatcher snatches a passing House Wren comes to the top of his brush pile and looks me over; butterfly and returns to his perch, he appears quite unafraid. Mountain Chickadees swing about in the the flycatcher gulps down the soft branches of the willows. Sierra body of his victim. From far away Juncos and Western Robins come comes the shout of a Red-shafted down to the river pool to bathe. Flicker. Several Green-backed Goldfinches I look at my watch, it is now Brown grass at the top of the 10:55, an hour and ten minutes have bank, green grass at the water 's passed and still no jay or woodpecker has left the wood to cross edge, the pretty reflection occasionally rippled by a jumping fish. The the meadow. But in the willows Black Phoebe arrives, another bird on my side of the river birds have for the list. The sky is very blue. been active and I have been entertained by many species while waiting for Heat waves begin to dance over the brown meadow. The hawk is still log for the hawk to strike. Sierra frozen to his perch and silent. A Creepers tread up the rough willow Lark in search of food, their white jay begins to move about in a yellow pine 100 feet from the hawk. breasts acting as reflectors throw The jay sails across the river and light into the dark crannies and tiny insects fall victim to the tweezer-like bills of the Creepers. A lone Slender-billed Nuthatch works still no move from the Cooper hawk. To conform to fashion this nature story should end with the spectacular, but nothing like this happened. head downward in order to pick up After a wait of two hours and five any insects overlooked by the minutes some children crossing the Creepers. He too has a reflector, meadow on the way to the swimming hole frightened the hawk from for his throat is very white. There really is something in this reflector on his perch. Rapidly beating wings business. The Canyon Wren who carried him down the valley and Also hunts about in dark crannies he was soon out of sight. Almost also wears a reflector on his breast. A young female Red-breasted Sap- immediately on the hawk's departure the California Woodpeckers sucker lands on a willow trunk five moved back into the bare branches feet from my face. She probably of the dead cottonwood, from which catches the glint of my eyes, any way she is greatly startled and takes the art of fly catching.

A Glimpse of the Mountain Coyote (Ranger-Naturalist E. D. Godwin) To the lover of nature comes, once but the brook gurgling, a pair of in a long time, an opportunity of chickadees singing above, and an observing at close hand some un- aware individual who makes the Olive-sided Flycatcher calling from up the slope. From the forest of forest his home. It is the possibility of such an occurrence that sound, but I was impelled to glance inspires the naturalist to rove farther through the wood, to seek sequestered spots where he can be alone with nature, to ply the keenest of his senses up from my lunch. It was the first time I had seen a Mountain Coyote, and the manner in which he approached me was est of his senses and pit them with typical of what I had heard. His those of other animals, and thus to gait was a joggy trot until he came become acquainted with the dwellers of the world. It is not always that he sees what he looks for, nor accomplishes what he aspires in this vein, for the animal usually within 15 feet of the spot where I had changed into a motionless object. Here he stopped, holding his taut, tan form in a pose of potential retreat as he pricked his sees him first and leaves or remains ears forward, surveyed me most quiet, but occasionally the wild one scrutinously, and scented the breeze, is bested by his curiosity or hunger scantily tainted with the efflux of and makes an appearance. Such was the case once last summer. I had hiked a mile or more from Old Inspiration Point up the Pohono Trail to Meadow Brook and stopped by the side of a small my tuna fish sandwich. He resembled a medium-sized collie dog, but with a higher and narrower body. His legs, long and wiry, terminated in feet that would be small for a dog of the same size. His stream for lunch. As I sat in the bushy tail was held at a drooping tiny sunlit meadow I heard nothing angle. The face, fox-like with long

snout and large ears, invited an trail where he disappeared behind appraisal of craftiness. As he stood, the bole of a large fir. his nostrils quivered, his eyes Evidently not satisfied with his searched, never failing to halt on survey, he peered around the trunk me as he scanned the little meadow. His ears sought one direction and at me and then emerged, coming toward me. This time he did not then another. His whole body appeared to portray uneasiness; his weight was transferred back and come so close, but was more active, trotting back and forth on the opposite bank and stopping to listen and smell. His every move and action denoted the utmost uneasiness and apprehension; every gesture, caution. His emaciated body bespoke of hardship; his eyes of subjugation. Slowly his feet began to shift, and he started to back away; as he did so, an afterthought impelled him to drop his head a moment to drink. With a sudden jerk he resumed his former pose and His life must be like ours —one of difficulty, one of toil—and continued to back away, turning as he jogged away down the trail, and breaking into his mechanical my thoughts followed him into the trot which took him off down the forest. Coyote Stalking a Gopher Carnivorous Habits of the Belding Ground (Ranger-Naturalist Carl Sharsmith) The Belding Ground Squirrel, often called "picket-pin" Cittellus beldingi Merriam, is a common inhabitant of the grassy meadow-land, of the Hudsonian Zone of the Yosemite National Park, and is particularly well known to Park visitors in the Tuolumne Meadows because of its erect habit of posture, this squirrel is a strictly ground-dwelling species and its vegetarian diet is in accord with its habitat. It lived, according to Grinnell and Storer, " chiefly upon grass and

grass seeds, and depends less upon the larger seeds, nuts and roots such as are eaten by the California Ground Squirrel and the chipmunks." That the Belding Ground Squirrel is not strictly vegetarian, however, is attested by the fact that Grinnell and Storer record the trapping, upon a few occasions, of Belding Ground Squirrels in meat-baited traps designed for the capture of carnivorous animals. They approach their lowland relative, the California Ground Squirrel (Citellus beecheyi beecheyi Richardson), then, in occasionally turning carnivorous. Three recent field records of this tendency to carnivorous food habits of the Belding Ground Squirrel follow: July 19, 1935. Mr. Miller, a guest of the Tuolumne Meadows Lodge, observed a Belding Ground Squirrel eating the head off a young fledgling Junco, the bird still struggling and the ground nest raided. This was near the District Ranger Station in Tuolumne Meadows. 1. July 6, 1925. Mrs. John Bingham observed a Belding Ground Squirrel. man and Mrs. Max Gilstroy observed the bird I later identified by the

wings and a few remaining feathers as an Audubon Warbler. This occurred a few yards from the Tuolumne Meadows Lodge. 3. July 23, 1935. Ranger Bartlet stationed at Tioga Pass, saw a Belding Ground Squirrel consume a freshly caught chipmunk from a brood reared in a tree by the Tioga Pass ranger station. It is to be expected that further observation will probably show this carnivorous tendency of the Belding Ground Squirrel more extensively developed than is at present realized. * Grinnell, Joseph, and Tracy I. Storer, Animal Life in Yosemite, p. 163, 1924.

MICE ANTICS

(M. E. Beatty, Asst. Park Naturalist) That White-footed Mice (Peromyscus maniculatus gambeli) are industrious workers and food storers has been well borne out by the writer 's observations in his own home. This winter's supply of walnuts stored upstairs seemed to be dwindling rapidly. Searching produced several caches in adjoining rooms with droppings suggestive of Peromyscus nearby. This brought to mind the several times members of the household had surprised mouse in the downstairs living room and delighted in watching the spry little individual scamper back upstairs. Every time the mouse seemed to make its appearance from behind the radio. Investigation produced nine walnuts stored on a small shelf in the rear of the radio. None of us could figure out how the mouse ever succeeded in getting down the stairs with such a large burden. Another demonstration took place on the glassed-in back porch, with acorns, in place of walnuts. The writer's son had been collecting acorns for the Museum and the sack seemed to decrease rather than increase in size. Investigation showed that a packsack hanging on the wall had been completely filled, as were all the empty jars, cans, vases, etc., stored around the porch. Examination of individual acorns disclosed tiny teeth marks on the base end of the acorn and three gallons of reclaimed nuts proved beyond doubt that the mice had been more than busy to accomplish such a large transfer in three weeks time. Bert Harwell in Washington Park Naturalist C. A. Harwell has been assigned to the Washington office for a two months period starting January 15, 1936. Mr. Harwell will work on special E. C. W. problems dealing with visual and vocational education. A number of speaking engagements have been arranged for him enroute and on the Atlantic Coast.

Another Park Occurrence of Single-leaf Pine (Emil F. Ernst, Assistant Forester) While the Single-leaf Pine (Pinus The Single-leaf Pine is easily monophylla, Torrey and Fremont) differentiated from the other pines is common on the east slope of the Sierra, it is quite rare in the west because of the characteristic single leaf or needle from which it slope, which includes Yosemite National Park. Several specimens of derives its best common name. It is the only American pine having this species are to be found in Pate Valley, far from the crest of the a single leaf or needle. It is sometimes called the Pinon Pine and is Sierra. A lone specimen was found therefore often confused with the recently by Junior Forester Elliott Pinon Pines of the desert regions Sawyer on the Rancheria Trail near of Arizona and New Mexico from Rancheria Mountain. Specimens of which the Pinon nuts of commerce the foliage were brought in and are obtained. It is an exceedingly verified by the writer. slow growing tree sometimes attaining an age of 225 years. It prefers the desert regions of the east occurrence of these individual trees is the fact that the Paiute Indians slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains and is also found in similar nuts from this pine for the acorns conditions in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, southeastern California, and the Yosemite Indians and as the in Lower California. few specimens of Single-leaf Pine The confirmation of this species found in the Park occur along known routes of travel used by the of trees within the present boundaries of Yosemite National Park Indians, it is quite possible that the trees sprouted from nuts dropped brings the number of new coniferous species reported this season up by them as the Indians journeyed back and to three. These three include the forth. Knobcone Pine, Dwarf Juniper, and

now the Single-leaf Pine. There is the possibility that eventually the generally during the month of September. Western Yew, Taxus brevifolia Nuttall, may be found in an isolated place in the vicinity of Mather and that the Limber Pine, Pinus flexilis, may also be found in the Park in the vicinity of Mono Pass. Since the Chocolate Lily was first collected, named and described, it has eluded the searching eyes of the wild flower lover and the botanist alike. Strange as it may seem, the reason that it was not found was because it was being looked for; it was not hiding at all. Several clumps of Chocolate Lily (Fritillaria atropurpurea) were found in full bloom on July 26, 1935, at an elevation of 10,500 feet on the Mt. Lyell Trail. Their color made them very safe as they nodded in the shade of large granite boulders. Unlike the Small-flowered Fritillaria (Fritillaria parviflora) which reaches to a height of three feet and has from three to twenty flowers on its stalk, the Chocolate Lily is seldom more than 12 inches high and has only two or five flowers on its simple raceme. The former is found in pine woods near the 6,000 foot level, while the latter is present in the upper Hudsonian and the lower Arctic-Alpine Life Zones. Fritillaria atropurpurea rises from a deep, solid, scaly bulb. Its flower is about three-quarters of an inch in length, and the six-parted, greenish-yellow perianth is dappled with chocolate. The narrow, sessile leaves are alternate and tend to whorl at the base of the plant.

CHOCOLATE LILY FOUND AGAIN

By H. Frank Evans Field School 1935

RARE BIRD VISITS YOSEMITE BANDING STATION

M. E. Beatty, Asst. Park Naturalist Bird banding always brings surprises and often assists the bander in obtaining a better knowledge of rare species to the region through the opportunity of studying the specimens in hand. On September 22, a bird new to the writer was taken in a government sparrow trap at the Yosemite Museum banding station. The bird was about the size and build of a tanager only the tail was quite long. The bright yellow throat and breast with upper parts greenish-brown together with the white eye ring classified the individual as a Long-tailed Chat (Icteria virens longicauda). The only way in which this bird differed from the majority of bird text descriptions was in the lack of any white line or mark over the eye, although the white eye circle was very prominent. The Long-tailed Chat is classed as a casual visitor to Yosemite. Charles Michael, who has kept bird records in Yosemite for about 15 years, has recorded this species during three years of this time, gener-

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