CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 223 



Taste. 



The sense of taste is fairly well developed in the mule deer. Certain 

 plants apparently are more acceptable to them than are other closely 

 related species. This is well illustrated by the Spanish clover {Lotus 

 americana) which, in Yosemite Valley, is eaten by deer during the 

 summer to a larger extent than is any other plant. Apparently a spicy, 

 pungent leaf, such as that of the California bay or laurel, is not dis- 

 pleasing to a deer's sense of taste, because on numerous occasions I have 

 found mule deer feeding rather extensively on the leaves of this tree. 

 On June 26, 1927, in Yosemite, I watched a forked-horn buck that fed 

 continuously for a period of over five minutes on the pungent leaves of 

 a California bay sapling (see Fig. 75). Furthermore, this buck 

 returned three different times within an hour to browse on this par- 

 ticular tree, and this selection was made when green growing grass and 

 other fresh, succulent vegetation was available in an abundance within 

 a few feet of the bay tree. 



As evidence that deer do exercise a selective choice through the 

 sense of taste, I wish to present an incident that took place in Yosemite 

 Valley on July 31, 1929. Two large bucks, with antlers well grown 

 but still in the velvet, came up to a camp table upon which breakfast 

 dishes had just been placed. These bucks were first directed to the 

 table by seeing it. As they came closer they began to smell of the 

 various objects and food on the table and finally, through the sense of 

 taste, they selected the food that was most to their liking. 



