52 CALIFORNIA MAMMALS. 



whitish stripe underneath. The following measurements were 

 taken from an average pair. This buck weighed about eighty 

 pounds. He was shot December 23rd, and had recently dropped 

 his antlers, the scar not being fully healed. The Indian who 

 shot him told me that another buck of the same band was still 

 carrying his antlers. Length of male 1410 mm. ( 55.50 inches) ; 

 tail vertebr;e 172 (6.77) ; hind foot 440 (17.30) ; ear from crown 

 230 (9) ; height at shoulder 890 (35) ; at hip 1005 (40). Length 

 of female 1340 (52.70); tail vertebrae 156 (6.15); hind foot 

 398 (15.67); ear from crown 312 (8.38). 



Type locality Gaviota Pass, Santa Barbara County, Cali- 

 fornia. 



The range of the California Mule Deer appears to be limited 

 to sout lern California and northwestern Lower California. 

 Probably intergradation occurs with true liemioniis in the sr.i;th- 

 ern Sierra Nevada. Their range touches that of the BurrO' Deer 

 along the edge of the Colorado and Cocopah Deserts, where the 

 great difference in size of the two subspecies becomes very ap- 

 parent. They are found in the -mountains and foothills and to 

 some extent in the brushy valleys. They frequent pine and oak 

 timber and the chemisal of the hillsides. Their antlers are less 

 regular in form^ than those of the Burro Deer. The new antlers 

 begin their growth sometimes as early as the middle of May, in 

 other cases as late as the end of June. In about two months the 

 growth is finished and soon after the buck begins to strip off the 

 skin ("velvet") by rubbing the antlers against trees and bushes. 

 The antlers are worn until the rutting season is over, and are 

 dropped from' November to January, the time depending on the 

 age of the buck, locality and other circumstances. If a buck is 

 castrated, accidentally or intentionally, the growth of the next 

 set of antlers is more or less imperfect, the skin is retained and 

 the antlers do not drop ofif as usual, but become permanent. The 

 next season abnormal points are grown, mostly about the bases of 

 the antlers and in the course of years the antlers become a mass 

 of points, mostly small and still covered with harsh skin. In 



