10 



tests it was practically impossible to get either sheep or cattle to eat 

 this plant readily, even after going hungry for two or three days. 

 When a hungry animal was first fed, a few mouthfuls would be eaten ; 

 but almost as soon as the plant juices came in contact with the mouth 

 the animal would begin to wrinkle its nose and move its tongue in such 

 a manner as quickly to get rid of what was in its mouth. 



In order to get any large number of plants into an animal it was 

 necessary to resort to forced feedings, which consisted mainly in plac- 

 ing the ground leaves so far back in the animal's mouth that it had 

 to swallow what was given it. When this plant, mixed with palatable 



Figure 4. Foot-Hill Death Camas (on left) and Wild Onion. Notice the differ- 

 ence in the arrangement of the flowers on the stem. The flowers of death 

 camas are scattered along the sides of the stem; those of wild onion form 

 a round cluster at the end of the stem. 



weeds and grasses, was fed to hungry animals they would sort out the 

 grasses and weeds and eat them, avoiding the death camas wherever 

 possible. This shows clearly how sheep and cattle dislike this poisonous 

 plant and try to avoid eating it. 



On many of the grazing ranges in the western part of Nevada, sheep 

 have been closely observed while grazing on ground supporting death 

 camas, with weeds, browse, and a scattering stand of grasses. The 

 sheep nibbled weeds and grasses all around the death camas, leaving it 

 almost untouched. Naturally, no losses occurred under these conditions. 



