206 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



acorn, is absolutely the most bitter thing I ever tasted, and 

 bitterness has long been accepted as the type of that with 

 which the human palate finds hardest to reconcile itself. 

 I was assured by one hunter that he had often found 

 in the deer's stomach the yellow blossom which, when 

 growing, is of about the size of a half-dollar, of a plant 

 with pungent leaves. It used to be common in Colorado, 

 where the aromatic odor of the drying leaves is a familiar 

 autumnal scent, and recalls many a hunt after deer and 

 elk; it has the unappetizing name of "sneezeweed." To 

 confirm this statement the ranger who contributed it has 

 written, since my return from California, that he killed a 

 deer in the valley of the Big Arroyo, flowing into Kern 

 River, which had the flowers of this plant in its stomach. 

 Do deer Hke the flower and edible fruit of the wild mahog- 

 any?* There is also another so-called mahogany having 

 edible berries, which the Indians and Mexicans are so 

 fond of that they dry and keep them for winter lemonade ; 

 and still a third so-called mahogany has twigs of a pleas- 

 ant birchy flavor, loved as browse by cattle, and it may 

 be by deer. Would they crop the leaves of the domestic 

 parsnip? This has a strong and individual taste.f Do 

 they eat the seeds of a plant which covers wide areas 

 in the Sierra foot-hills, variously known as bear-clover, 

 grouse-brush, and mountain-misery ? These seeds are not 

 unpleasant to our palate, but the leaves have a rank tansy- 

 like smell. I do not think deer would eat them, though 

 sheep will do so when sufiiciently hungry; but then the 



* Cercocarpus hetulaef alius. 



t The leaves of the wild parsnip are said to be eaten by horses; 

 whether or not by deer I cannot say. It is reported to be poisonous to sheep 

 and cattle. On this I should like information. The parsley family has a 

 bad reputation; there are said to be poisonous plants among them^ Are the 

 roots of any of these poisonous? 



