CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 



267 



Regarding the amount of milk consumed by a fawn when first born, 

 I have the following evidence to offer. A fawn onlj^ two or three days 

 old that, through the death of its mother, was known not to have nursed 

 for twelve hours and was obviously very hungry, consumed four ounces 

 of fresh cow's milk when it was diluted one-half with water and fed 

 in an ordinary nursing bottle with the regulation rubber nipple. It 

 would therefore seem that four ounces of milk is a square meal for a 

 young fawn having a weight of five and one-half pounds. 



AGE AT WHICH FAWNS ARE WEANED 



Fawns of the mule deer are usually weaned when they reach an 

 age of from 60 to 75 days. On September 18, 1927, in Yosemite Valley, 

 I followed a doe and her two fawns about to see when they would 



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Fig. 102. A California mule deer fawn just weaned learning to eat green grass. 

 Yosemite, September 18, 1927. Mus. Vert. Zool. No. 5517. 



be weaned and what they would eat when first thrust out on their own 

 resources. The two fawns under observation were still spotted, although 

 the new fall coat had begun to creep in and the white spots were becom- 

 ing dim (see Fig. 102). The mother of the fawns made considerable 

 effort to discourage them from nursing. She would not stand still when 

 the fawns tried to nurse. Finding, after several futile attempts, that 

 their mother would no longer nurse them, the fawns began to cast 

 about for green food. One of them began first to smell and then to 

 nibble at the fresh tender tips of certain weeds and was particularly 

 attracted by the new blades of velvet grass and blue grass, which it 

 sought out and devoured with relish. "While I watched the fawns feed- 

 ing, their mother slipped away from them and hid in a clump of azalea 



