CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 



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place California black oak and scrub oak among the first with canyon 

 live oak and California blue oak in secondary rank. Huckleberry oak 

 is more utilized for its leaves than for its acorns. 



In early fall, green grass and other succulent herbage is especially 

 important to fawns that are being weaned. On September 18, 1927, in 

 Yosemite, I watched two spotted fawns feeding by themselves in the 

 edge of the meadow. Their mother had slipped away in an effort to 

 wean them. The fawns were hungry and selected the tenderest grass 

 blades which were eaten exclusively (see Fig. 102). The middle of 

 September, or weaning time, is an important period in the life of a 

 mule deer fawn. When a doe begins to wean her fawn, if a suitable 

 supply of green grass or other green forage is absent it frequently 



Fig. 129. A California mule deer buck eating sneezeweed and horseweed. 

 Yosemite, September 14, 1927. Mus. Vert. Zool. No. 5479. 



means that the fawn will continue to nurse and thus will be a drag on 

 its mother and both she and fawn enter the winter in poor condition 

 and in several known instances did not survive (see Fig. 103). 



On October 31, 1929, in Yosemite, I watched a large four-point buck 

 for an hour as he picked up stray tufts of grass that had been hidden 

 and covered by fallen leaves. I was surprised to find that 60 per cent 

 of what he ate during the hour consisted of fallen leaves of California 

 black oak, many of which had just been blown off the trees. Many 

 brown dry oak leaves were also eaten. Acorns of the California black 

 oak were eagerly sought for and formed 30 per cent of the food eaten 

 during the hour. Considerable fresh green grass was also eaten. 



I found that the mule deer were able to tell and reject faulty i.e. 

 wormy or blank acorns without even touching them. 



