Ochotona schisticeps. Cony; Pika. [Ochotona princeps Gray-headed Pika, American Pika, Rock Rabbit, Piping Hare, Whistling Hare]
This species differs in habits and voice from those of the Rocky Mountains; it is less noisy and less often heard in the middle of the day, for which reason it is more apt to escape detection, and its common note, instead of the usual 'bleat,' is a loud shrill eh' eh,' or eh' eh' eh'. It seems to be most active in the late afternoon and on moonlight evenings, and its voice is heard at all hours of the night
On most mountains where conies live, their well-known accumulations of plants of various kinds, cut and piled on the rocks to dry, are conspicuous objects. But on Shasta, where I often saw the animals carrying freshly cut plants to their dens in the slide rock, I failed to find a single 'haystack.' In one place a few fresh stems of Polygonum newberryi, with is large broad leaves, were seen, and in another a large accumulation of old brown leaves of the same species mixed with a larger quantity of Phyllodoce empetriformis--apparently left over from the previous year. But the only real 'haystack' found on the mountain by any of the party was discovered on the east side of Gray Butte September 25 by Vernon bailey. It contained Epilobium spicatum, Holodiscus discolor, Monardella odoratissima, Hieracium horridum, Ceanothus velutinus, and two species of grass. The bulk of the material was Epilobium and Monardella.
On the west slope of Goose Nest Mountain, just east of Little Shasta Valley, Walter K. Fisher found conies common in an area of slide rock which extends in a practically unbroken stretch from the top to the botton of the mountain. I have not seen the specimens.
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