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the favorite. When several other shrubs such as nianzanitas and scrub 

 oaks are available, ceanothus will be the only one showing bite marks. A 

 deer nips at the foliage with a diagonal movement of the head and neck, 

 and leaves the bark of the twig ends raveled out instead of cut off evenly. 

 Deer are known to eat the bark of the incense cedar, particularly from 

 young trees, and occasionally leaves of the black oak. In spring they nibble 

 young shoots of dogwood along streams where they come down to drink. 

 When the supply of acorns or chinquapin burrs is large, the deer feed on 

 them with evident relish. At times, as when browse is scant or of poor 

 quality, the deer feed on grass. This is notably true in the semi-barren 

 Hudsonian Zone, where brush of any sort is almost wanting. They may 

 also take willow leaves there. A buck seen at Forty-nine Gap, in the lower 

 foothills, in December, 1915, was feeding on grass, even though several 

 kinds of brush plants were available nearby ; but this was an exceptional 

 instance. 



The deer of this region have profited, to some extent, through civilization. 

 At the Chinquapin barns they frequently pick up hay which has been 

 scattered when bales are being unloaded, and the men employed there and 

 at Eight-mile have attracted and tamed the deer by putting out salt for 

 them. Deer also visit the salt licks established by cattle men for their stock 

 both inside and outside the western boundary of the Park. Hunters, how- 

 ever, take advantage of this habit and often lie in wait for the animals 

 at these artificial licks. Finally, deer have been seen consuming the re- 

 mains of lunches. A doe seen near a garbage can above Yosemite Falls one 

 afternoon in late June, 1915, was munching a discarded sandwich with 

 evident satisfaction. 



Deer may be seen moving about at any hour of the day or night, but 

 they are active chiefly during the late afternoon and early evening hours. 

 Then the brush is free from dew and presumably more relished by them. 

 On moonlight nights they have been seen foraging on the scanty growth 

 of grass to be found on the forest floor ; and they are often heard running 

 at night. They are least active during the heat of the day. Then they 

 are lying down, in their 'beds,' resting and sleeping. 



A deer bed is nothing more than a slight depression in the surface of 

 the ground, 2 to 3 feet in diameter, sometimes scraped free of such surface 

 litter as pine needles. It is usually placed in the shade on a sidehill some 

 distance below the top of a ridge, from which the animal can have un- 

 restricted view for a considerable distance. The situation most favored 

 is a small clearing in the brush, sheltered by some small coniferous tree. 

 Certain warm, south-facing slopes near the crests of the higher ridges are 

 much frequented for resting places by large bucks. Park rangers term 

 these animals "granite bucks" and say that they are unusually large 



