326 



CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 



velvet elderberry bush. She appeared particularly to crave the clusters 

 of elderberry blossoms devouring four great clusters in as many 

 minutes (see Fig. 121). 



On July 2, 1929, I was catching grasshoppers in the meadow to 

 feed to a young California pygmy owl when a pregnant doe heavy with 

 fawn, came up and begged to be fed. My young daughter asked me to 

 give this deer some grasshoppers to eat. I replied that deer were 

 vegetarians, but when I held out a nice, fat grasshopper, the doe came 

 up and took it, chewed it awhile and then swallowed it. She then fol- 

 lowed me begging for more. I gave her two more grasshoppers whicli 



she ate with avidity. She 

 later ate both grasshoppers 

 and green katydids but 

 seemed to prefer the grass- 

 hoppers. Her unusual appe- 

 tite may have been due to 

 her pregnant condition. 



In Yosemite on July 6, 

 1929, I watched one doe'tliat 

 made a sj)ecial hunt for 

 young seedlings of the Cali- 

 fornia black oak hidden 

 under a thick ear])('t of fal- 

 len leaves. During one 20- 

 minute period, 7.50 to 8.10 

 a.m., I found that she located 

 the hidden seedlings by aid 

 of her nose. These oak seed- 

 lings were then about three 

 inches high, above the acorn, 

 and the tap root extended 

 down about the same dis- 

 tance. The doe sought and 

 ate the sprouted acorn, both 

 halves of which remained 

 tightly attached to the 

 middle stem of tlie seedlings. 

 In 20 minutes this doe found 

 eleven oak seedlings and ate 

 In six instances the seedlings 



Fig. 122. This large yellow evening primrose 

 is a favorite food of mule deer and has, 

 through deer eating it, become almost ex- 

 tinct in Yosemite Valley, outside of fenced 

 areas. Yosemite, July 10, 1928. Mus. 

 Vert. Zool. No. 5778. 



the sprouted acorns from all of them 

 were pulled up and destroyed. 



In Yosemite Valley when I first visited it, nearly 20 years ago, 

 deer were rare there and in certain spots great fields of tall yellow 

 evening primrose covered large areas (see Fig. 122). There were 

 originally acres of evening primroses in Yosemite Valley. As the mule 

 deer increased, under total protection, they ate more and more of the 

 primrose plants until by 1929, I was able in two weeks' search to find 

 less than six plants outside of fenced gardens. Even in the native 

 wild flower garden at the Ahwahnee Hotel, protected by a supposedly 

 deer-proof fence, I found that with all sorts of native grasses, clovers 

 and herbs present, the deer that managed to "overcome" the fence, 



