50 CALIFORNIA MAMMALS. 



age; while the antlers of the Mule Deer seldom have more than 

 ten points, including the brow tines. Eight tO' twelve inches 

 from the base each antler forks, and about six inches further 

 each branch usually forks again in middle aged bucks. This 

 is the normal adult form of antlers of the Black-tailed Deer and 

 all the subspecies of the Mule Deer. Now and then a buck adds 

 a tine or two, but these are not common. The antlers of deer 

 are not com'posed of horn but are bone, and it is a mistake to 

 speak of antlers as "horns." They are grown underneath a skin, 

 much as other bones are; not from their bases and inner surfaces 

 as horns are. 



The Mule Deer, as well as our other species, eats a variety 

 of plants, prefering a considerable proportion of twigs and foliage 

 of shrubs and trees intermixed with grass and other plants, as 

 well as seeds, fruits and such nuts as they can chew, such as 

 acorns. In localities where they are not distrubed they feed 

 more or less in the daytime, but where they are hunted they be- 

 come principally nocturnal. 



Odocoileus hemionus eremicus Mearns. (Hermic, i. c, 

 a dweller in the desert.) 



BURRO DEER. 



Similar to hemionus; larger; paler; in winter yellowish 

 .drab gray, darkest on the back, palest on the sides : breast sooty 

 <drab; sometimes the dark area from the rump extends a short 

 rdistance down on the tail, but more often it is as indicated in the 

 ■ drawing, which was made from a recently killed buck, near Black 

 ".Mountain on the Colorado Desert, December loth. This was a 

 imedium sized buck and measurements were as follows : total 

 length 1680 mm. (66 inches) ; tail vertebrae 190 (7.50) ; hind 

 -foot 491 (19.30); ear from crown 250 (9.80); girth of body 

 behind fore leg 1050 (41.30). I estimated his weight p.t 150 

 pounds but others of the party thought he was heavier. A female 

 Icilled a few days previously in the same locality measured, total 



