A Deer's Bill of Fare. 199 



the origin of the name, but the less ethereal circumstance 

 that its flowers may be used as soap.* Other trees besides 

 the oak minister to the wants of the deer; the willow, 

 maple, ash, cottonwood, and wild plum they find agree- 

 able ; the leaves of these they eat, and of the wild currant, 

 hazel, elder, tree-mallow, rose-bush, as well as the pleas- 

 ant-flavored petals of its flowers; the young growth of 

 manzanita, snow-brush, or buckthorn ( Ceanothus cordula- 

 tus), this last a prime favorite, — one finds whole glade- 

 fuls of it, — when in fragrant flower sought by all the 

 butterflies and bees of the countryside. This must not be 

 confused with the buckhorn, a much larger bush, tree 

 almost at times, of which they also eat the tender leaves. 

 After much argument pro and con^ I believe it is a 

 fact that, like cattle, sheep, and horses, they eat the leaves 

 of the poison-oak. This I did not myself taste, but several 

 men who are immune to its poison assured me that its 

 flavor is not unpleasant. Deer eat the leaves of the 

 honeysuckle, the peculiar-looking, leafless, delicate, taper- 

 ing branches of milkweed, the new growth of dwarf white 

 sage, and other varieties of the sage family, huckleberry- 

 leaves, the leaves and green pods of the balloon-plant, the 

 morning-glory and its cousin, the woolly morning-glory, 

 well named from its fuzzy leaves, and on the edge of the 

 desert they eat the plump, juicy leaves of the branching 

 flat cactus, or prickly pear. How they manage to swallow 

 the innumerable needles with which these are covered is 

 a puzzle. Of course, after having been subjected to the 



* The half-ripe fruit of the buckhorn serves as a similar substitute to 

 remove grease-spots, and there are various other soap-bushes and soap-plants. 

 The zygadene, or death-camass, is one of these, the Spanish bayonet is 

 another, but the best known of all is the tall, wraithlike soap-weed 

 (Chlorogalum) , its scattered frail branches bearing white starlike flowers 

 which open to herald the evening star. 



