188 



CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 



restricted to the dry desert washes and Chocolate Mountains of north- 

 eastern Imperial County and to the eastern portion of Riverside County 

 (see distribution map). 



The California mule deer, in my experience, ranges from the 

 American River south along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada to 

 Tehachapi Pass and thence westward past Mount Pinos, to and includ- 

 ing the Santa Inez, San Gabriel, and San Bernardino Mountains. The 

 southern mule deer occurs in California in the San Jacinto, Trabuco, 

 Palomar, and Cuyumaca Mountains in San Diego, western Riverside, 

 and southeastern Orange counties (see distribution map). 



There has been much recent discussion 

 regarding hybrids of both Rocky Moun- 

 tain mule deer and California mule deer 

 with Columbian black-tailed deer. Limited 

 space prevents full discussion of this 

 interrelation, but I have personally exam- 

 ined a number of such hybrid specimens 

 from the Shasta, Lassen, and Yosemite 

 areas. As early as 1927, I discovered, and 

 demonstrated by photographs (see Fig. 

 48), the presence of coast black-tailed 

 deer and hybrids in Yosemite Valley, 

 where only mule deer were reported to 

 exist. A few years later I was able, 

 through Nordquist, to retrieve and to 

 preserve such a specimen from near 

 Wawona, Mariposa County. 



On February 12, 1032, three miles east 

 of Jackson, Amador County, I examined 

 the hide and other remains of a Colum- 

 bian black-tailed buck that had been killed 

 at that locality late the previous fall. 

 Both the tail, which was entirely intact, 

 having been left unskinned, and the 

 metatarsal gland of the hind leg were 

 clearly characteristic of a Columbian 

 black-tailed deer. From this and from 



dead deer which I examined on the Stan- 



islaiis National Forest during the foot-and-mouth epizootic, I am con- 

 vinced that the range of the Columbian black-tailed deer extends down 

 along the lower foothills of the Sierra Nevada at least to Wawona, 

 Mariposa County (see distribution map). 



Fig. 48. Black-tailed doe 

 in Yosemite Valley, .luly 1, 

 1927. Note color and shape 

 of tail of living animal. Mus. 

 Vert. Zool. No. 5402. 



