220 



CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 



Smell. 



I feel certain, from numerous and close observations, that the aver- 

 age doe does not depend upon the sense of sight to identify her own off- 

 spring, because on numerous occasions I have observed a doe being 

 followed temporarily by a fawn which was not her own. Several times 

 I have observed such fawns come up to a doe and start to nurse, it 

 apparently being a matter of indifference to the fawn whether the doe 

 in question was its own mother or not. In one instance, a strange 

 fawn was observed to nurse for several minutes undetected, both the doe 

 and the fawn remaining quiet until the doe reached around and smelled 

 of the fawn, whereupon she immediately realized that the fawn was 

 not her own, and accordingly drove it away with rapid, straight-armed 

 thrusts of her front legs and feet. 



In Yosemite Valley on September 16, 1927, I watched three does 

 that were feeding together with their fawns, which were so nearly of a 

 size that I was unable at first to distinguish between them. The fawns 

 wandered about, running first with one doe and then with another 

 indiscriminately. "Whenever one of the does wished to be sure of the 

 identity of the fawn following her, she always resorted to smelling it 

 (see Fig. 73). This procedure was so uniformly carried out lliat I 



Fig. 73. Numerous observations show that does can not always recognize their 

 own fawns by sight. In case of doubt tliey rely on the sense of smell as here 

 shown. Yosemite, September 16, 1927. Mus. Vert. Zool. No. 5514. 



considered it the "acid test" whereby the mother was able with cer- 

 tainty to identify her offspring. Repeated observations under such 

 circumstances proved conclusively tliat tlie does were unable to recog- 

 nize with certainty their own faw-ns through sight alone. 



Tavo other experiences that I have had with mule deer should be 

 cited as evidence of the degree in which the sense of smell is utilized. 



