318 CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 



that I had been told Avere not eaten by tliem. The second means of 

 recording sucli findings was my fieltl notebook which I carried with me 

 so that the findings could be recorded on the spot. In order to secure 

 proper identification of certain species, it was found desirable to 

 prepare regular herbarium specimens, which were dried in the usual 

 manner, and later submitted to botanists. Field identifications have 

 been based upon Sudworth's, Forest Trees of the Pacific Slope and 

 Jepson's, Manual of the Flowering Plants of California. A fourth 

 method of ascertaining and recording food habits of deer is by examina- 

 tion of stomach contents of animals that have died in winter or tliat 

 have been killed during the open hunting season. This method furnishes 

 a fair idea of the amount of food eaten at a meal and since mule deer 

 usually browse twice a day, morning and evening, the daily food 

 requirement of an individual can thus be obtained. For instance, the 

 full stomach of an average sized fork-horn buck was found to weigh 12 

 pounds, which would represent a meal for that deer. 



KINDS OF FOOD EATEN BY MULE DEER 



Up to January 1, 1934, over 200 different kinds of vegetation 

 have been found to have been eaten by the various races of mule 

 deer in California. I have attempted to list these items of food under 

 various groups, namely, (1) trees, (2) brush or shrubs, (3) herbs, 

 (4) grasses and sedges, (5) fungi and miscellaneous (see tables). 



An attempt has also been made in these tables to indicate under 

 each species the parts of the plant eaten, locality and seasonal use, 

 availability and the author's estimation of the palatability and relative 

 importance of the article as food. Thus it will be seen from the tables 

 that coniferous trees, although occurring commonly in the habitat 

 of mule deer, have low palatability and are, as a class, little used as 

 food. Contrasted to this, certain species of deer brush and oaks with 

 a wide distribution are both palatable and abundant so that they are 

 much eaten and have a relatively high importance as deer food. Mush- 

 rooms and other fungi are eaten at various seasons. Acorns and berries 

 are regular items of diet. Mistletoe, mosses and lichens are eaten 

 when available in winter. 



DEER AS EATERS OF GRASS 



Many people, including some hunters and a few scientists, main- 

 tain that deer do not eat grass. Dr. E. Raymond Hall, in writing on 

 The Deer of California (California Fish and Game, vol. 13, 1927, 

 p. 242), states: "As with other deer, grass is seldom touched." Dr. 

 A. W. Sampson, Associate Professor of Forestry at the University of 

 California, and a recognized specialist in grazing studies and range 

 management in the West, in discussing the seasonal variation in the 

 food of mule deer in California in a letter of March 14, 1928, to the 

 author states: "At this time of year grasses, particularly Brmnus 

 hordeacus and Bromus rigidus, constitute in some cases at least three- 

 fourths of the food of deer." 



