BRUSH BABBIT 231 



which has a clump of long, flexible, hay-like steins, are resorted to freely. 

 The rabbits nip off the stems of these two plants and eat them, discarding 

 the leaves. Much rabbit sign, indicating repeated visits by the animals, 

 was seen wherever these plants formed the chief vegetation. In the spring 

 months grass and other fresh herbage grows about the borders of the 

 chaparral and the rabbits turn then to this food source. With the food 

 habits just indicated, and with its timid and retiring disposition, the brush 

 rabbit is never likely to become the pest to agriculture that the cottontail is. 

 On the other hand, it is a desirable game animal. 



Brush rabbits bring forth their young chiefly during the early months 

 of the year. Two juvenal animals, taken near Cou.lterville on May 11 

 and 12, 1919, weighed only about one-third as much as adults and were 

 in the dusky-hued first pelage. To judge from the growth of domestic 

 rabbits these animals were probably not over six weeks old when found 

 by us, and so had been born in the later part of March. These youngsters, 

 however, were already out and foraging independently at the margin of 

 the chaparral, just as adults are wont to do. A female, giving evidence of 

 suckling young, was taken 3 miles east of Coulterville on June 1, 1915. 



Several of the local carnivorous birds and mammals are known to prey 

 upon rabbits and this is probably one reason why the Mariposa Brush 

 Rabbit keeps so closely to the cover of the chaparral. The presence of 

 these natural enemies, and the limited forage available to the brush rabbit, 

 are two factors which serve to keep down the numbers of the species. 



Mule Deer. Odocoileus hemionus hemionus (Rafinesque) 



Field characters. — Size large, mature individuals standing 32 to 42 inches high at 

 shoulder. Males more than one year old bear short spike-like antlers; in later years 

 antlers more or less branched. Ears very large, 8 to 9 inches tall from base to tip, 

 4 inches across at greatest width. (See pi. 39&). Tail narrowed near base, black on 

 outer surface, white on under side. Adults, bright reddish brown in summer, grayish 

 brown in winter; rump and throat whitish; young fawns reddish brown, spotted with 

 white. Footprints small for size of animal, sheep-like, but sharply pointed (pi. 40d). 

 Droppings elliptical, % inch long or less, black. 



Occurrence. — More or less common, according to season and altitude, almost through- 

 out the Yosemite region; recorded from hills west of Pleasant Valley eastward across 

 the mountains to Mono Craters. Summer range chiefly between altitudes of 3500 and 

 8500 feet; winter range, below level of deep snow, that is, mostly below 5500 feet. 

 Prefers chaparral country. Seen singly or in small bands. 



In the days of '49, when white men first thronged the Sierran foothills, 

 no less than four species of horned or antlered big game animals inhabited 

 the Yosemite region. At the eastern border of the San Joaquin Valley 

 was the Dwarf or Tule Elk ; on the plains of the San Joaquin and in Mono 

 Valley was the American Antelope; on the highest parts of the Sierra 



