Animal life in the Yosemite; an account of the mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians in a cross-section of the Sierra Nevada

Preface

The national parks of America render as their most important seiTice a full free opportunity to all who will to find in them a complete recreation, physical, mental, esthetic. In performing this service the animal life existing within their borders constitutes a valuable asset. For the best recreative forces in nature are those which ser\'e most quickly to call into play latent or seldom used faculties of mind and body whose exercise tends to restore to normal balance the human mechanism that has been disturbed by special or artificial conditions of living. Foremost among these forces are the living things that move and utter sounds, exhibit color and changing form, and by these qualities readily attract and fix our interest. To seek acquaintance with those primal objects of interest is to know the joy of vigorous muscular activity; better still, it is to realize the possession of the generally neglected senses of far-seeing and far-hearing, and to invite an esthetic appeal of the highest type and an intellectual stimulus of infinite resource.

Of the thousands who each year visit the Yosemite Valley and its environs, a certain proportion are already interested in natural history; and anyone who leaves the region without gathering some definite knowledge of its natural history has failed to get adequate gain from his opportunities. The geology, topography, and botany of the Yosemite have been studied with some care; and there are instructive and stimulating manuals available dealing with these subjects. But heretofore only a few brief accounts have appeared in print concerning the bird life of the region, and practically nothing has been made available regarding its mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. It was in an effort to supply this deficiency that a survey of the vertebrate natural history of the Yosemite region was undertaken by the California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. The present volume deals with the results of that survey.

The principal objects in view in undertaking the survey were: To find out what species of mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians exist, or have within modern times existed, in the circumscribed area selected for study; to learn as much as possible concerning the local distribution of each of these species, and to map out the general life areas within the region; to learn as much as time permitted of the food relations, the breeding habits, and the behavior, individually, of each of the species; and finally to put all this information on permanent record, in a form accessible to, and generally assimilable by, the public, both lay an<l scientific.

In attempting the achievement of this last aim the authors have brought together their materials with every precaution to insure accuracy of fact and correctness of inference. No sacrifice of precision has been made consciously with the end merely of affording 'attractive reading.' At the same time, technical terms, where the same ideas could be expressed in words familiar to every reader of fair education, have been avoided. Ideally, we have tried to present our science, perfectly good science, in straightforward, readable form.

Joseph Grinnell.

Tracy Irwix Storer.

Berkeley, July 6, 1922.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Museum of Vertebrate Zoology is under obligation to numerous persons and organizations for support and assistance in the prosecution of the Yoscmite survey. The greatest aid from any one source has come from Miss Annie M. Alexander, who made the enterprise possible through her unstinted financial support of the Museum during the several years in which the field and office work has been under way. Her unswerving faith in the worthiness of the undertaking served continually to encourage and energize those who were concerned with its conduct.

When the plan was first outlined it was put before Dr. William F. Bad^, then President of the Sierra Club. Its merits and feasibility were enthusiastically endorsed by him and subsequently by the Sierra Club formally. This endorsement went far toward bringing the enterprise to the favorable attention of the people in Washington and in Yosemite Valley, to whom we later found it needful to appeal for material help of various kinds.

Mr. Stephen T. Mather, Director of National Parks, besides personally contributing to the fund for field work, has rendered aid in other ways. Financial help, at a time when this was most needed, was received also from Mr. George W. Marston of San Diego and from Mr. James D. Phelan of San Francisco.

The National Park Service of the Federal Government granted the special permits necessary for the taking of specimens within the boundaries of the Yosemite National Park. Many of the local employees of the same Service rendered valuable aid. To Mr. Gabriel Souvelewsky, then Supervisor of Yosemite Park, we owe grateful acknowledgment for immediate and practically expressed interest in our program of field work in the winter of 1914-15. Among others in the Valley who have helped us materially we may mention in particular Messrs. W. B. Lewis, E. P. Leavitt, Forest S. Townsley, Ansel F. Hall, Charles C. Bull, Charles W. Michael, N. L. Guiberson, and the late George W. Bell. Information on specific and general questions has been freely furnished by these men, and many valuable specimens have been secured through them for the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. Many of the organizations engaged in business connected with Yosemite Valley aided our enterprise by granting special privileges. Among these are to be named the Yosemite Valley Railroad Company, The Yosemite Transportation Company, The Sentinel Hotel, and The Curry Camping Company. The Sierra Club, during the field season of 1915, gave us the use of their pack train.

The colored and wash drawings used for illustrating the present volume were executed by Major Allan Brooks upon the basis of Yosemite materials. The skill of Mrs. Frieda L. Abernathy was very helpful in preparing the line drawings. The photographs used were taken in course of our regular field work except four whose outside sources are acknowledged in their respective captions. To Professor Oliver M, Washburn, Manager of the University of California Press, we are indebted for important help in assembling the illustrations that appear in this book. And to Mr. Joseph W. Flinn, Superintendent of the University Printing Office, we hereby express our appreciation of his personal interest in guiding the work through the press.

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The United States Bureau of Plant Industry and the University of California Division of Forestry aided in the determination of seeds found in the cheek pouches of chipmunks. The United States Bureau of Biological Survey determined the crop and gizzard contents of a number of birds. Dr. Harvey M. Hall identified numerous plants submitted to him.

Much information and many vertebrate specimens have been obtained from Mr. Donald D. McLean, whose home is at Dudley, on Smith Creek, six miles (air-line) east of the town of Coulterville. Mr. McLean's parents and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. John L. McLean and Mr. Walter Dudley, also aided us in many ways while field work was going on in their neighborhood.

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