334 



CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 



In Sequoia National Park, I observed tliat squaw-root {Cantni 

 gairdneri) often known in the West as "Queen Anne's lace," and is 

 quite different from "Queen Anne's lace" of eastern United States, and 

 grows abundantly in both Round ^Meadow and Crescent Meadow form- 

 ing a white "bedspread" over tlie meadows. Late in Se])tember, 1933, 

 the white flowering heads of this plant were extensively eaten by mule 

 deer. 



WINTER 



Winter months const it iitc tlie lean season for mule deei'. IJy the 

 first ])art of the winter, the deer have usually come down from the 



iFiG. 130. Buck eating dead sc'ilge in ivintcr. Sedge was rarely eaten in summer. 

 Sequoia National Park, December IS, 1929. W'ildlife Division No. 210. 



high summer range and are found at low altitudes in the foothills. 

 Normally, the seasonal fall rains insure a good growth of fresh annual 

 grasses in the foothills by December and this green food supi)ly is 

 heavily utilized to supplement their diet of browse. This heavy utiliza- 

 tion of green grass in early winter by both California and southern 

 mule deer has been set forth at length under the chapter on "Deer as 

 Eaters of Grass." It may seem paradoxical, but fresh green grass is 

 an important and regular article of diet of mule deer in winter in 

 central and southern California. 



For the Rocky Mountain mule deer which winter east of the 

 Sierra Nevada, green grass is in winter just a memory. In Sequoia 

 National Park, on December 18, 1929, I explored an acre thicket of 



