NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 251 



no danger, unless more intensive operations for its destruction 

 are undertaken to preserve the deer. 



Farther south, along the coasts of southern British Columbia, 

 Washington, and Oregon, occurs the race oregonensis, which is 

 nearly as large as the Rocky Mountain subspecies but darker 

 and richer in color, with more black on the tail. A large one 

 was said to have weighed 150 pounds. Concerning its status 

 in the State of Washington, Taylor and Shaw (1929) write 

 that it is "probably more common in the Olympic Mountains 

 than elsewhere, but present also in the Cascades and Blue 

 Mountains. Predatory-animal control campaigns are markedly 

 reducing its numbers." In Oregon cougars were common in 

 the forests west of the Cascade Mountains up till recently but 

 at the present time have been so reduced by professional 

 hunters over the State "that they are no longer a serious 

 menace to livestock industries" (Bailey, 1936). Some idea of 

 their numbers in recent years may be gained from the figures 

 given by Bailey (1936), who states that for the period from 

 October 1, 1913, to December 31, 1914, bounties totalling 

 $4,035 were paid on 269 mountain lions killed in Oregon. In 

 Curry County alone no less th&n 60 were killed, and smaller 

 numbers in 19 other counties. In the fiscal year 1930, Jewett 

 reported 17 killed by U. S. Biological Survey hunters in Oregon, 

 "where they had been reported killing stock or game. While 

 the number is insignificant, it shows a marked decrease in these 

 big cats during recent years and that their destruction of live- 

 stock and game is being well curbed. " It seems clear from these 

 figures that mountain lions will ere long become uncommon in 

 the State if this policy is continued. In the wilder sections, it 

 may be that a certain number of these predators will be valu- 

 able in keeping down too great an increase of deer. 



Grinnell, Dixon, and Linsdale (1937) have published an ex- 

 cellent summary of our knowledge of the race calif ornica as it 

 occurs in California. The race is less dark and richly colored 

 than the Oregon cougar. Both red and gray phases occur, 

 with an intermediate condition, all three in about equal pro- 

 portions. Adult males weigh upwards of 165 pounds, with an 

 average of about 140. It occurs in forested and chaparral- 

 covered areas mainly in the mountains west of the Great Basin 

 and desert divides from Oregon to the Mexican line. For the 

 most part it lives at middle altitudes in the mountains between 



