Pine is usually assumed to have at>out the same nutritive value 
as "balsam. During the fall it was eaten "by 73 percent of the animals 
and formed 7 percent of the total food. Late in winter the number of 
deer eating pine dropped to 33 percent, but the quantity consumed doubled 
(14 percent). Jack pine ( Pinus bank si ana ) was found in 54 percent of the 
fall stomachs, white pine (P. strobus ) in 18, and red pin© (P. re si no sa ) 
in 14. Jack pino occurred in 10 percent of the late-winter stomachs, 
white pine in 22, and red pine in 16. 
White cedar (Thuja occidentalism ) , generally considered one of the 
best deer foods, was found in 23 percent of the fall stomachs and formed 
9 percent of the total food. The quantity consumed increased to 13 percent 
during the winter, when it was found in 39 percent of the stomachs. This 
figure represents the maximum utilization of this food and indicates 
strenuous effort on the part of tho deer to obtain it, for much of it 
was available to the animals only after heavy snows raised their browsing 
reach. Some of the cedar oaten from one "yard" was that lopped off to 
feed tho animals during a critical period. 
Spruce (in this region chiefly black spruce [ Picea mariana ]) is not 
an important deer food and is not eaten in large quantities until conditions 
are severe. It formed only 0.7 percent of the food in fall and 2 percent 
in winter. Even though not taken in quantity, it was eaten frequently and 
was found in 32 percent of the fall and 33 percent of the winter stomachs. 
The birch family was represented in the diet by paper birch ( Be tula 
pap.yrif era ) . alder ( Alnus sp. ), beaked hazelnut ( Corylus ro strata ), and 
hophornbeam ( Ostrya virginiana ). Paper birch was by far the most important 
of these species and was noted most frequently and in greatest quantity. 
Alder was found in only one wintor and four fall stomachs, while hazelnut 
and hophornbeam were each noted once in the fall stomachs. Although the 
birch family occurred in 59 percont of the fall stomachs and formed 10 
percent of the volume, it was present in only 25 percent of the winter 
stomachs and comprised 4 percent of the total food. 
Members of the heath family (Ericaceae) eaten by deer were winter- 
green ( Gaul the ria procumbens ), Labrador- tea ( Ledum groenlandicum ) , and 
leatherleaf ( Chamaedaphne calyculata ) . These plants were selected by 23 
percent of the deer in fall and by 12 percent in winter and formed 5 and 3 
percent, respectively, of the total volume. Being unavailable after deep 
snows, these low plants wore oaten less frequently in winter. 
The honeysuckle family ( Capri foliaceao) was represented in the fall 
diet of the deer by the twinflowcr ( Linnaoa borealis ) , which occured in 14 
percent of tho stomachs but formed only a trace (i.e. less than 1 percent) 
of the total food, and in tho winter diet by viburnum, which was found in 
10 percent of the stomachs and composed 5 percent of the total food. 
Bunchberry ( Cornus canadensis ) occurred in 27 percent of the fall 
stomachs and formed 2.2 percent of their contents by volume. In the 
winter series, dogwood ( Cornus sp. ) was found in only one stomach and 
- 3 - 
