I 
rtala the eholoa food plants and the species eate rf ng 
critical period, two se.-ieu of d-er stomachs were collected a. 
contents . ed. 1/ -ore stomachs were tl ron de> Lied 
ring the ] .. n the 
1 condition and had access to a wide vari \ food^. Late 1 
Of 1. - ,51 stomachs were collected fro« ic I 
ad been killed by predatoro or automobiles, or had died from p— lincml a 
or ex. . Sight of the 21 fall stomachs were taken fro I 
Xabetogoma Stat it, near Hay, Minn. , and the remaining 13 fro 
Suporior Nation b, near Ily, Mi: .... Die winter stomachs w. 
fpon areas as follows: 12 from the Cloquet Valley State Fore, 
son, lUnn., and 39 from the Superior National Forest. Of the latter, all 
were taken from the ens - of the forest: 5 f ce 
deeryard, 2 from the 0u.nf3.int district, and 18 froi ryard. 
vere taken near Ely, Minn., ir. the sane general area as 
fall stomachs from the Superior National Forest. 
• percentages by volume of the more important foods i: two 
series of stomachs arc s ... figure 1. It will be noted 
fall, plants of the .-illow family (Salioaceao) were eaten in I -st 
forming 2? percent of the total, but late in winter they droj. 
to 3.8 percent. are of this group in the fall food were quaking aspen 
(Pojgulus tremuloidos ) and balsam poplar (P. balsam if era ' , 17.4 percent, and 
willow r. ( Salix cpp.), 11.4 Late in winter only willow was found. 
Balsam fir ( Abies balsamea ) , which formed 13.4 percent of total* 
ranked second in the quantity of food eater, in fall. Feeding esq :.ts 
conducted in Y.cv York 2/ end Michigan 3/ indicate that balsam as the solo 
food, or in too large proportion oven who: . others, does not 
•tain deer in a stror. ical c . That balsam is a starvation 
diet is illustrated in the present study by the quant it stom- 
achs of deer that died late in irlnter, when the plant ranked first and for - 
:2.7 percent of the food. Balsam f orffled 80 percent or more of the con- 
tents of 17, or a third, of the stomachs, 5 of which held nothing else. 
TThen there ic a choice, deer may feed on balsam frequ* but only 1 
ly in comparison with the q y taken when choice foods are not available. 
Zven though the volume consumed in fall was less than one-1 rl of that eaten 
late in winter, the percentage of the total number of deer feeding upon bal- 
sam was higher — 86 compared with 80 (fig. 2). 
1_/ Stomach I r.ations were made by the junior author in the Food 
Habits Laboratory at I rgton. 
2/ rd, L. A.; Bump, Gardiner: Darrow, Pobert; and Woodward, 
'• Z. . Food Pre- [uirei unts of tho White-tailed I 
Joint contribution of tho New Toxk 51 
Lepar- md the New York State College of Agri ! e. 35 pp. 1'. . 
.port, L. A.. B Marked Food Preferences. 
Midi. Conser . 4- .11. I9ff . 
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