WESTERN MARSH WREN. Telmatodytes palustris plesius (Oberholser)

Field characters.—Bulk a little more than half that of Junco; tail shorter than body. Upper surface chiefly light brown with lengthwise light streaking; some black on back and head; a conspicuous white stripe over eye; under surface dull white, brownish on sides of body. Tail usually held up at steep angle with body. Voice: Song a hurried series of 'rusty' notes; call note a sharp chuck, also a scolding sound, repeated.

Occurrence.—Sparse transient and winter visitant in the lower altitudes. Recorded in Yosemite Valley, at Smith Creek (6 miles east of Coulterville), and at Lagrange; on east slope of mountains at Gem Lake. Lives in thickets and growths close to or above standing water. Solitary.

The Western Marsh Wren is sparingly represented in the Yosemite section during the seasons of migration. A few probably pass the winter at the lower altitudes on the west slope. The species was first brought to our notice in Yosemite Valley on October 10, 1914, when an immature male came to grief in an oat-baited mouse trap set in some tall grass beneath a clump of willows bordering a meadow near the Merced River. Another individual was seen in the Valley at the margin of the river three days later, and on November 1, 1915, one was seen in a mass of drift on the bank of Yosemite Creek. The species was recorded at Smith Creek, six miles east of Coulterville, on December 26, 1919, and at Lagrange on December 19, 1915. East of the mountains an immature male in full song was taken in the willows and tall grass bordering Gem Lake, 9036 feet altitude, on September 13, 1915.

The "long-billed' Marsh Wren, although affecting a different habitat, is almost as reclusive as its small relative, the Western Winter Wren. It keeps to dense cover and is to be glimpsed only momentarily while passing from one thicket to another; sometimes it may be brought out to view by the observer making a squeaking sound of a sort to excite the curiosity of the bird, and then, for a moment or two, its color features and other characters may be seen to advantage.