HOUSE WREN (Troglodytes aedon): 4 1/2-5 1/4 in. Above grayish-brown; below gray, tinged with brown; wing and tail with wavy dusky bars; no conspicuous eye-stripe or white in tail; tail short, frequently held at an abrupt angle with body. Call, a scolding kerr. Nests in abandoned woodpecker holes or other cavities.

Frequents bushes, chaparral, and chiefly deciduous trees, the latter especially for nesting. S. V. largely in the Upper Sonoran to the Transition life zone. Upmountain movement after breeding carries some birds to high elevations as to 9,200 feet at the head of Lyell Canyon in the Yosemite region.

WINTER WREN (Troglodytes troglodytes): 4 in. Resembles house wren but is darker, smaller, and has shorter tail; inconspicuous line over eye; belly brownish and heavily barred. Bobs when excited. Our smallest wren. Song a prolonged series of thin high notes suggestive of a squeaky wheel. Often nests in cavities in or beneath logs.

Frequents the damp, shady forest floor where there are tangles of roots, ferns, and matted vegetation (often including moss) chiefly in the Transition and Canadian life zones. Of local occurrence in summer in the Yosemite region as at the Merced Grove of Big Trees, foot of Vernal Fall, and near Happy Isles, but chiefly a W. V.

BELWICK’S WREN

BEWICK’S WREN (Thryomanes bewickii): 5-5 1/4 in. Above dark brown; below grayish-white becoming white on throat; outer tail feathers black, tipped with white; central feathers gray-brown barred with dusky; white line over eye.

Frequents continuous or broken chaparral and tracts of woodland with brush clumps, chiefly in the Upper Sonoran life zone. There is shifting or some birds up- or downmountain, depending upon locality, in late summer, fall, and winter. R. at lower elevations in the extreme western part of the Yosemite region. C. V. to Yosemite Valley.

ROCK WREN (Salpinctes obsolettts): 5-6 in. Above with often indistinct sprinkling of dusky and white on light brown; tail tipped with buffy; outer tail feathers black near tip; body and head somewhat flattened; bill long and slender; toes long. Bobs.

Found especially in rugged, rocky locations, where it forages in crevices or in the open; also may enter fissures in logs and holes in the ground. More independent of water than the canyon wren. Found chiefly in the Lower and Upper Sonoran life zones but also on up to the Hudsonian zone. R. at lower elevations and S. V. in the higher mountains. Widespread in the Yosemite region having been seen at 10,500 feet in Mono Pass.

LONG-BILLED MARSH WREN (Telmatodytes palustris): 4 1/2-5 1/2 in. Above brownish; patch of black on back crossed by longitudinal white lines; white line over eye; rump brown; below whitish, brownish on sides; tail feathers brown, barred with dusky.

Frequents marshlands, especially where tules grow. Usually nests over water. Ranges from the Lower Sonoran to the Transition life zone. Sparse C. V. and W. V. to lower elevations in western part of Yosemite region. Has been seen in Yosemite Valley.

CANYON WREN

CANYON WREN (Catherpes mexicanus): 5 1/2-5 3/4 in. Above brown, with fine black and white spots; throat and breast white, contrast in colors marked; sides and belly rich rufous; very narrow black bars on bright reddish-brown tail; long, slender, slightly curved bill. Call a series of clear, whistled notes on a descending scale. Sometimes bobs.

Frequents rocky, often shaded areas in canyons. R. chiefly in the Upper Sonoran life zone but also in the Lower Sonoran and Transition zones. Largely in the western part of the Yosemite region in the zones mentioned but has been observed as far east as Merced Lake: Often heard and sometimes seen about sheer cliffs and talus slopes of Yosemite Valley.

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