CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 



325 



On July 10, 1928, at Yosemite, a fawn known to be just thirty- 

 hours old, was seen to try to eat the tender young blades of meadow 

 fescue. A single blade was with difficulty nipped off, and several 

 moments were spent in trying to chew it without success. The fawn 

 then turned its attention to some dark dry soil and ate several mouth- 

 fuls of it, possibly for the mineral salts it contained. On August 9, 

 1933, at Round Meadow in Sequoia National Park a pair of spotted 

 fawns about a month old hid in a patch of cow parsley (see Fig. 120) 

 and tried to eat green grass. 



I have noted many times that just a few days before they give 

 birth to their fawns, mule deer does search for and eat extra large 

 amounts of green willow leaves. This habit has been noted several 



Fig. 121. This pregnant doe ate large quantities of elderberry blossoms just 

 before her fawn was born. Yosemite, July 6, 1929. Wildlife Division No. 200. 



times in Yosemite and particularly in Sequoia National Park, in 1933 

 where I watched nine does that were about to give birth to young. I 

 think that this preference for a diet of willow and other leaves at this 

 ]^artieular time helps in some way to prepare the does for the fawn's 

 birth ; for as soon as the fawns are born and begin to nurse the does at 

 Sequoia ceased hunting willow leaves and ate a large diet of succulent 

 green grass possibly to produce a good milk supply. In another case 

 at Yosemite on July 6, 1929, I watched a California mule deer doe 

 that was unusually heavy with fawn, as she browsed ravenously on a 



