Chapter 4

Specimens examined.—Total, 7, distributed as follows: Los Angeles County: San Antonio Canyon, 4500 ft., 2; San Antonio Wash, 1800 ft., 5 (2 PC).

Neotoma lepida lepidaThomas

Desert Woodrat

These woodrats were present in rocky situations along the desert slope from the lower edge of the juniper belt down into the desert. Specimens were taken in piles of boulders in Mescal Wash, and amid rock outcroppings on the steep, barren, south slopes at the base of Grandview Canyon, whereas none was found on the juniper-clad benches.

This woodrat built no nests in rocky areas; however, in the Joshua tree beltN. l. lepidaoften built small nests at the bases of large standing or prostrate Joshua trees. There sticks from creosote bushes, along with cow dung and small stones were favorite building materials. Judging from the large number of unused woodrat nests in the Joshua tree flats it seemed that this rat was formerly far more common than it was in the period of this study.

Specimens examined.—Total, 9, distributed as follows: Los Angeles County: 6 mi. E and 1 mi. S Llano, 3500 ft., 4; Mescal Wash, 4200 ft., 5 (3PC).

Neotoma fuscipes macrotisThomas

Dusky-footed Woodrat

This subspecies was widely distributed along the coastal slope of the mountains from the coastal sage belt, at roughly 1600 feet, up to 6500 feet at the lower edge of the yellow pine forest and was most common in the chaparral association.

In the coastal sage belt these woodrats are restricted to wash areas where large chaparral plants such as lemonadeberry and laurel sumac are used as nesting sites. In San Antonio Wash the occasional large juniper trees almost invariably harbor the nests offuscipes. The general absence of suitable nesting sites in the sage belt probably limits the spread offuscipesin this area.

In the upper part of the chaparral belt in talus these woodrats live beneath the angular boulders and build no visible houses. Several areas of talus occupied by woodrats were examined carefully and no sign of houses was noted.

Two juveniles were found in the stomach of a rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis helleri) killed in May, 1948, at the mouth of Evey Canyon. Remains of woodrats were found in feces of the coyote and gray fox.

Lactating females of this species were taken on March 16, and October 2, 1951.

Specimens examined.—Total, 4, distributed as follows: San Bernardino County: Icehouse Canyon, 5500 ft., 2. Los Angeles County: San Antonio Canyon, 2800 ft., 2.

Neotoma fuscipes simplexTrue

Dusky-footed Woodrat

These rats were recorded from the yellow pine forests on Blue Ridge, at 8100 feet, down to the lower edge of the juniper belt, at 3800 feet. Their presence there as elsewhere was determined by the occurrence of adequate cover. On Blue Ridge they were taken in and near patches of snowbrush, currant, and choke cherry, and one was taken beneath a pile of logs where no nest was in evidence.

The thickets of choke cherry in hollows on Blue Ridge were favored house-building sites of woodrats. Among the tangle of branches large nests were built, and in September, 1951, the remains of choke cherry fruit and gnawings on the limbs of these plants indicated that woodrats were active throughout these extensive patches of brush.

In the pinyon-juniper association most of the large plants wereused as nesting sites, but scrub oak, seemed to be especially preferred. Because it often grew in a twisted irregular form with the foliage nearly reaching the ground, the oak offered good shelter for the woodrat nests. In an acre of scrub oak and mountain mahogany brush one-half mile north of Jackson Lake, at 6100 feet, thirteen occupied woodrat nests were found. In the juniper belt, houses were of more irregular occurrence, and were always beneath juniper trees, usually beneath the largest and most widely spreading individuals.

Those specimens from Blue Ridge, on the crest of the San Gabriels, are intergrades between the coastal racemacrotisandsimplexof the desert slope. Although specimens vary widely in color, comparison with series of these two subspecies in the California Museum of Vertebrate Zoology indicates that all specimens from the desert slope of the San Gabriels are referable to the racesimplex. Two specimens of this species from the granite talus above the base of Icehouse Canyon at 5500 feet on the Pacific slope, grade strongly towardsimplex. Hooper (1938:231) mentions that specimens of this species taken along the San Gabriel and San Bernardino ranges may be intermediate betweensimplexandmacrotis.

At the head of Grandview Canyon, tracks indicated that a coyote had foraged for about one half mile along the edge of a tract of dense oak and pinyon growth. It seemed as if the animal had been foraging for woodrats. A gray fox trapped near Graham Canyon, in the juniper belt, had in its stomach the remains of a freshly killed adult woodrat. The remains of an adult woodrat were found in the stomach of a rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis helleri) obtained on the desert slope of the mountains.

Specimens examined.—Total, 6, distributed as follows: Los Angeles County: 6 mi. E Valyermo, 5600 ft., 1; 1 mi. E Big Pines, 6600 ft., 2; 1 mi. S and 3 mi. W Big Pines, 6000 ft., 1; 1 mi. S and 2 mi. E Big Pines, 8100 ft., 2.

Microtus californicus sanctidiegiR. Kellogg

California Meadow Mouse

Owing to the paucity of extensive areas of grassland in the San Gabriels, this is one of the least common rodents of the area. It inhabits, however, even small patches of grassland up to 4000 feet elevation on the Pacific slope, and is locally plentiful. For example, a small patch of grassland amid the chaparral at the mouth ofPalmer Canyon supported manyMicrotus, and in San Antonio Canyon at about 3000 feet elevation meadow mice were found amid boulders and yuccas in a small grassy area near the stream.

Specimens examined.—Total, 3, distributed as follows: Los Angeles County: San Antonio Canyon, 2800 ft., 1; Palmer Canyon, 2100 ft., 1; 4 mi. N Claremont, 1800 ft., 1.

Family URSIDAE

Ursus americanus californiensisJ. Miller

Black Bear

Eleven black bears were introduced into the San Gabriel Mountains "near Crystal Lake" in November 1933 from the Sierra Nevada (Burghduff, 1935:83). I do not know whether or not there have been subsequent introductions. There are still bears present in the higher parts of the mountains, especially north of the study area, where they seem to be maintaining their numbers. The grizzly bear that formerly occurred in the San Gabriel Mountains was exterminated there some years before the black bear was introduced.

Family PROCYONIDAE

Bassariscus astutus octavusHall

Ring-tailed Cat

Large sections of the San Gabriel Mountains are uninhabited by this species, while locally, in the chaparral belt near water, ring-tails are common. Many reports of ring-tails were received from owners of cabins and homes who reside in the canyons at the Pacific base of the mountains. Because of the distinctive appearance of this animal it is likely that many of these reports were accurate. The reports testified to the presence of ring-tails in San Gabriel Canyon, Dalton Canyon, Palmer Canyon and San Antonio Canyon. Hall (1927:41) lists specimens from San Antonio Canyon. Kenneth Hill of Upland told me that ring-tailed cats often have been trapped above that town near citrus nurseries that are regularly irrigated. This species probably is not present on the desert slope of the range.

The only specimen that I took was a female weighing one pound and fourteen ounces. It was trapped on March 24, 1951, among granite boulders, beneath scrub oak and bay trees, near the mouth of Icehouse Canyon, at 5500 feet elevation.

Procyon lotor psoraGray

Raccoon

The raccoon was one of the most common carnivores in the San Gabriels and was found on both slopes of the range. Tracks were noted and one old male was trapped at the base of the Pacific slope foothills at 1900 feet elevation, and raccoons were captured at several localities from this point up to 5500 feet in San Antonio Canyon. They were noted on Blue Ridge at about 8000 feet elevation foraging around the camp grounds. On the desert slope they occurred down to the lower edge of the pinyon-juniper belt, for example near the mouth of Sheep Creek Canyon.

Sign of raccoons was most often found near water; tracks, however, indicated that these animals, along with other carnivores, used fire roads for traveling through the chaparral. In a small draw one-half mile east of the mouth of Thompson Canyon two raccoons were trapped although the only water was a series of small, disconnected seepage pools beneath the valley oaks.

A raccoon freed from a small steel trap in San Antonio Canyon concealed itself in an unusual but extremely effective manner. When released the coon splashed up the middle of the small creek nearby to a place where some dead alders had fallen over and shaded the water—here the animal squatted down in the stream. The raccoon was mostly submerged, its tail was floating, and its back and the top of its head and snout were above water. With most of its body under water, and with the maze of alder logs above casting a broken pattern of light and shade, it was well hidden. When closely pressed the raccoon hid in the same manner several times before it disappeared up a rocky draw into the scrub oak brush.

In the autumn of 1951, raccoons fed on grapes at the Sycamore Valley Ranch one mile south of Devore. The one specimen (P. C.) saved, an old male from 1/2 mi. W Palmer Canyon, had remains of beetles in its stomach and weighed slightly more than 13 pounds.

Family MUSTELIDAE

Mustela frenata latirostraHall

Long-tailed Weasel

Several weasels were found dead on roads in the coastal sage belt near San Antonio and Lytle canyons.

Taxidea taxus neglectaMearns

Badger

I found no sign of badgers on the Pacific slope of the range, but James Wolfort, employed by the state Fish and Game Commission to trap coyotes, reported that in 1948 he trapped also several badgers at the coastal foot of the range in the San Fernando Valley area which is west of the study area.

Taxidea taxus berlandieriBaird

Badger

Many old badger diggings were found in the Joshua tree woodland and pinyon-juniper associations of the desert slope, but none of the animals was observed nor were specimens secured. Mr. E. A. Eberle who has trapped for many winters in the vicinity of Mescal Canyon stated that he caught badgers occasionally.

I examined the skin of a badger taken at Llano which showed the characteristic paleness of the desert subspeciesberlandieri.

Mephitis mephitis holzneriMearns

Striped Skunk

The populations of striped skunks in the San Gabriels center around cultivated land at the Pacific foot of the range. Citrus groves, grape vineyards, and areas once cleared by man are preferred to coastal sagebrush flats. The cultivated areas now probably support many more skunks than were there under original conditions. I have many sight records of striped skunks which I obtained while driving through the citrus groves at night. Only once was the striped skunk noted in the chaparral; all the other records were from the coastal sagebrush belt.

In addition to insects and small mammals, grapes are eaten regularly by skunks in vineyards, and the fruit of the prickly-pear cactus is often eaten. Near the mouth of Thompson Canyon feces examined in October 1948, contained almost exclusively the remains of prickly-pear fruit.

A male taken one-half mile south of Devore weighed five pounds and four ounces.

Specimens examined, 2: San Bernardino County: 1/2 mi. S Devore, 2200 ft., 1. Los Angeles County: 3 mi. N Claremont, 1500 ft., 1 (PC).

Spilogale gracilis microrhinaHall

Spotted Skunk

Spotted skunks are common locally in the coastal sage scrub association and lower chaparral association on the coastal face of the mountains, mainly between 1000 and 4000 feet elevation; but they have been reported from Icehouse Canyon at 5000 feet, and I took one above the mouth of this canyon at 5500 feet elevation. A few spotted skunks may inhabit the lower desert slope of the mountains; here feces thought to be those of spotted skunks have been found, and a bobcat trapped near the head of Grandview Canyon smelled strongly of skunk.

The spotted skunk usually was in rocky habitats. In the sage flats, sign (mostly feces and tracks) usually was near rock piles and around human developments such as rock walls, old outbuildings and houses. Specimens taken in the chaparral were trapped near granite outcroppings.

In the autumn of 1950, at my house near the mouth of Palmer Canyon, a family of spotted skunks lived under the floors. Night after night they scratched under the floor and chattered in high-pitched rasping notes, and on several evenings one walked complacently into the living room. It finally became necessary to trap and deport most of these skunks. In all, nine skunks were trapped; these probably represented more than the original residents. One male was descented and allowed to remain. It spent most of the daylight hours asleep in an old shower room where the many gaps between the rock work and the boards allowed him entrance. Through no special efforts on our part he became tame enough to climb over us in order to get food left on the kitchen sink, and he would eat calmly while we sat only inches away from him.

Feces from sage areas contained mostly remains of insects and small rodents whereas many samples of feces from chaparral areas contained, in addition, shells of snails. Feces examined represent all months of the year.

Specimens examined.—Los Angeles County: mouth of San Antonio Canyon, 2 (PC).

Family CANIDAE

Canis latrans ochropusEschscholtz

Coyote

Coyotes inhabit the sagebrush flats and foothills up to at least 4000 feet all along the Pacific base of the San Gabriels. This species seems most common at the foot of the range where largedry washes prevent man from occupying the land immediately adjacent to the foothills, and are the dominant carnivores of the coastal sage belt. Repeated observations have indicated that although many individuals range into the higher foothills they seldom are found deep in the major canyons or chaparral slopes. Coyotes rarely occur at 3000 or 4000 feet in San Antonio Canyon where it cuts into the realm of heavy chaparral; yet on steep foothill slopes and ridges, which are adjacent to the flat land, these animals range up to at least 4000 feet. Being hunters primarily of rather open land many coyotes go into the foothills only to find daytime refuge, traveling down dirt roads, ridges, and firebreaks, to forage at night in the sage flats. Coyote feces from the foothills, at about 3500 feet, contained predominantly the remains of such food items as cottontails, chickens, and jack rabbits. These animals could have been found only in the flats. This is additional evidence that coyotes do the major part of their hunting at the base of the range.

Observations of coyote tracks and trapping records have shown that these animals hunt mostly in the more open parts of the sage flats. Coyotes frequent areas of scattered brush, sandy areas, wash channels, and old roads, and seemingly shun dense brush. Many coyotes actually hunt for rabbits in the citrus groves near the foothills. On several evenings I traced their howling to orange groves, and Mr. Kenneth Hill of Upland told me of often seeing coyotes in his orange groves at night.

The forage beats of several coyotes were discovered in connection with trapping specimens of these animals. In January, 1952, two coyotes, probably a mated pair, traveled nightly from the slopes immediately west of Evey Canyon, at about 3100 feet, down into the sagebrush adjacent to the west side of San Antonio Wash, at about 1700 feet elevation. The route led down open ridges, then for about one half mile across a level, cultivated plateau, and then swung over the eroded banks near the lowermost point of the plateau onto the level sage flats. The distance covered by this route from the foothills down to the flats was somewhat more than a mile, with about a 1400 foot difference in elevation between the daytime retreat and the nocturnal forage area. Another route, seemingly used by only one coyote, was somewhat longer. This animal followed fire breaks and ridges from above Thompson Canyon down onto a fire road, and then into the lower end of Palmer Canyon where it entered the flats. This route covered about three miles in coming from the foothills to the flats. Feces of this coyoteoften contained the remains of white leghorn chickens which had been found at a refuse pile near several chicken ranches one-half mile from the base of Palmer Canyon.

Although no definite idea could be gained of the population density of coyotes in the area, it was clear that in certain localities they were, as carnivores go, abundant. After one large male was obtained in the flats at the base of Cobal Canyon, at least two other individuals were heard howling in this immediate area, and their tracks were noted repeatedly on dirt roads. One night early in January, 1952, immediately west of the head of San Antonio Wash, the voices of six coyotes could be picked out separately from a chorus of coyote howls which came from several different directions in the wash.

Many field examinations of coyote feces left the impression that chickens and lagomorphs made up the bulk of the coyote's food on the coastal slope. To check this a study of 39 sets of scats collected at various localities on the coastal slope was made in the laboratory, the results being shown in Table 10. Remains of one of the three species of rabbits, cottontails, jack rabbits, or brush rabbits, occurred in 72 per cent of the feces examined. Cottontails, it will be noted, were preyed upon more heavily than any other wild species, remains of this form being found in 33 per cent of the feces. The prevalence of chicken remains in coyote feces does not imply that these animals were killed by the coyotes. All of the chickens could have been found dead in the refuse piles of the many chicken ranches. In addition, the chickens were raised in wire cages above the ground where they were nearly invulnerable to predation. That coyotes may at times kill deer in this area was suggested by the finding of tracks in the sand in San Antonio Wash which clearly indicated that a deer had been closely pursued by a coyote. The tracks were lost in a stretch of brush so the outcome of the chase could not be determined. Near the mouth of Lytle Creek Canyon, in November, 1951, coyote feces contained mostly remains of grapes from nearby vineyards. Also, above Cucamonga, coyotes were found to be feeding heavily on grapes. This must be a rather unsuitable form of nourishment for coyotes, for many of the grapes in the feces appeared nearly unaltered despite their trip through the alimentary canal.

Table 10.—Results of Examinations of Thirty-nine Sets of Coyote Feces from the Pacific Slope of the San Gabriel Mountains. Feces Were Deposited in Autumn and Winter (September to February).

[A]This is an expression, in percentage, of the number of sets of feces which contained the particular food item out of the total of thirty-nine sets examined.

The six coyotes taken on the Pacific slope are fairly uniform in coloration; the occurrence of white tipping on the tails of most of the specimens, instead of the usual solid black tip, is notable. Threeskins, those of a male and two females, have patches of white hairs at the tips of the tails; two skins, of a male and a female, show only scattered white hairs at the tips of the tails; and the skin of one female has a solidly black-tipped tail. An additional female,trapped by David Leighton in Thompson Canyon, had a large patch of white hairs at the tip of the tail. Grinnell, Dixon, and Linsdale (1937:501) mention that only an occasional individual (female?) has a white-tipped tail.

Weights are available for four specimens: two coyotes trapped in San Antonio Wash, a male and a female, weighed 20.5 and 23.2 pounds respectively; a female from the mouth of San Antonio Canyon weighed 21.6 pounds; and a large male from the mouth of Thompson Canyon weighed 29.3 pounds.

Specimens examined.—Total, 6, distributed as follows: Los Angeles County: Live Oak Canyon, 3000 ft., 1; mouth of San Antonio Canyon, 2000 ft., 1; 4 mi. N Claremont, 1600 ft., 2; 4 mi. NE Claremont, 1600 ft., 1; 3 mi. NE Claremont, 1600 ft., 1.

Table 11.—Cranial Measurements of Canis latrans ochropus from the Coastal Slope of the San Gabriel Mountains.

Canis latrans mearnsiMerriam

Coyote

Coyotes are common on the desert slope of the San Gabriels below about 6000 feet elevation. They seem not, or only rarely, to penetrate the yellow pine forest belt, but tracks have been found occasionally near the lower edge of the forest, as at the head of Mescal Canyon. In the more open parts of the pinyon-juniper association, sign of coyotes was noted and they were the dominant carnivores in the juniper belt and Joshua tree woodland.

In the upper part of the pinyon-juniper association coyotes travel and forage in sage flats, along ridges, and in sandy draws, avoiding the extensive patches of scrub oak and mountain mahogany, andthe steep, rocky, pinyon-covered slopes. It is apparent that the local ranges of the coyote and the gray fox in the pinyon-juniper belt are complementary, the gray fox keeping to the more thickly wooded or brushy parts of the area, and the coyote staying in the relatively open sections. Probably there is little competition for food there between these two canids.

As evidenced by tracks, coyotes commonly traveled and hunted along desert washes, probably because of the larger population of rodents and rabbits there. Below Graham Canyon three fairly recently inhabited dens of coyotes were found in the cutbanks at the edge of a dry wash in December of 1951. The cutbanks were six to ten feet high, and the dens were dug into the banks about three feet above the floor of the wash.

On the evening of October 20, 1948, near Desert Springs, Steven M. Jacobs and I set out a line of fifty wooden live traps for kangaroo rats. That night we slept about 300 yards from the middle of the line which was roughly three quarters of a mile long. When we tended the traps the next morning we found the tracks of a coyote over our own tracks of the previous day, and the first trap that had seemingly held a kangaroo rat was chewed and dragged for about fifty feet. Each trap that had held a rodent had been turned upside down so that the door had opened. At one point in the line where we had walked for about two hundred yards without setting a trap the coyote had followed every twist and turn of our trail. The animal had followed out the entire trap line and removed approximately eight rodents from the traps, reducing our take to oneDipodomysand onePeromyscus.

Examinations of feces showed that in the period from 1948 to 1952, while populations of jack rabbits were low in the Mojave Desert, the coyotes had fed extensively on smaller mammals such as kangaroo rats, and to some extent on fruit. By contrasting the present food habits of coyotes on the desert and coastal slopes of the mountains support is afforded for Errington's (1937:243) statement that predation is "a by-product of population." On the desert slope, with low populations of rabbits, the coyotes have turned to lesser species of prey; while on the Pacific slope, where populations of rabbits were high, the rabbits made up the major portion of the coyote's diet. On the desert slope, remains of the following food items were identified from coyote feces: kangaroo rats, mule deer, jack rabbits, passerine bird, manzanita and juniper fruit, beetles, grapes and apples. Near Valyermo, coyote feces were composedmostly of apples from nearby orchards. A female coyote killed below Grandview Canyon had its stomach and intestines stuffed with apples in large chunks. In the juniper belt, berries of juniper were often eaten by coyotes.

The three specimens of coyotes from the desert slope are clearly referable to the desert raceC. l. mearnsi, both with regard to cranial and pelage characteristics. Although I collected no specimens from Cajon Pass or the passes at the west end of the range, it is in these places that intergradation might be expected to occur between the desert raceC. l. mearnsiand the coastal and valley subspeciesC. l. ochropus, as the higher parts of the San Gabriels seem to constitute a barrier to coyotes.

A subadult female coyote taken in the Joshua tree belt near Graham Canyon weighed 20.8 pounds.

Specimens examined.—Los Angeles County: 6 mi. E and 2 mi. S Llano, 3600 ft., 3 (2 PC).

Vulpes macrotis arsipusElliot

Kit Fox

The kit fox barely enters the area under consideration. In the Joshua tree belt, below about 3500 feet elevation, tracks were most often noted in washes and on the adjacent sandy ground. The highest place where tracks were seen was a small sandy draw below the mouth of Graham Canyon at an altitude of roughly 3900 feet.

In the Joshua tree belt many old burrows were found but none was occupied. I believe these foxes are returning to this area where once they were common. In the winter of 1948 no sign of kit foxes was found, although intensive field work was done in the Joshua tree belt in the Mescal Canyon area. In December of 1951, in the same locality, sign was obvious and an individual was trapped below Grandview Canyon at 3500 feet elevation. Possibly since the use of poison for carnivores has been discontinued in this district the foxes are repopulating the area.

The one specimen taken, a sub-adult female, weighed two pounds and fourteen ounces.

Specimen examined.—Los Angeles Co.: 6 mi. E & 1 mi. S Llano, 3500 ft., 1.

Urocyon cinereoargenteus californicusMearns

Gray Fox

The gray fox is widely distributed in the San Gabriel Mountains, occurring on both slopes of the range wherever extensive tracts of chaparral are present. They reach maximum abundance in thechaparral association of the coastal slope. Individuals have been observed occasionally at night in coastal sage areas at the Pacific foot of the mountains; however they seem to be less common here and probably come out of the adjacent chaparral to forage in the flats at night. Gray foxes occur all the way up the Pacific slope into the yellow pine woodland at 7500 feet, and from 6200 feet elevation on the desert slope down to the upper limit of the Joshua trees as, for example, near Mescal Canyon at 4700 feet.

On the Pacific face of the mountains the gray fox probably is the dominant carnivore in terms of its effect on prey species, first, because of its abundance, and second, because of its forage habits. Some appreciation of the abundance of the gray fox may be gained from trapping records. On a fire road at the head of Thompson Canyon, at 2500 feet, two settings of traps about one-quarter mile apart were maintained for four nights. In this time four gray foxes were trapped. At the head of Cow Canyon, at 4500 feet, one trap set on a deer trail caught five gray foxes in five nights. At the end of this time fox tracks were noted about 100 yards away from the set, and another fox was trapped about one quarter mile away. In addition to their abundance, the forage habits of gray foxes are such as to bring them into most habitats present in the chaparral association. Tracks and feces indicate that foxes forage under dense brush, on open rocky ridges, in riparian growth, on talus slopes, and in groves of big cone-spruce and scrub oak.

Trapped foxes, if uninjured by the trap, were usually released. One fox was released on a small trail through thick vegetation consisting mainly of snowbrush. When freed, the fox whirled and darted through a patch of snowbrush for about seventy-five feet, then turned and disappeared beneath some large bay trees. Although the brush through which it ran was dense, the fox seemed to run at full speed. The success of gray foxes as predators in the chaparral is probably due in large measure to their agility amid dense cover.

The three specimens from the desert slope are referable to the coastal subspecies,U. c. californicus, rather than the desert subspecies,U. c. scottii. In all respects they resemble foxes taken on the Pacific slope; cranial measurements are near the maximum for the largeU. c. californicus, and not small as would be expected if they were grading toward the smallerU. c. scottii. Floors of desert valleys north of the San Gabriel Mountains probably isolated foxes there fromU. c. scottiifound in the higher ranges of the MojaveDesert. Consequently one would expect no intergradation between the coastal and desert races in the San Gabriel Mountains.

An old female trapped on March 18,1951, in San Antonio Canyon, had three embryos each about 105 mm. long from rump to crown, and weighed 9.2 lbs. The average weight of four non-pregnant females was 6.8 lbs., whereas the average of six males was 7.5 lbs.

Specimens examined.—Total, 11, distributed as follows: Los Angeles County: Mescal Canyon, 4800 ft., 1; 4 mi. E Valyermo, 5200 ft., 2; Cow Canyon, 4500 ft., 2; San Antonio Canyon, 3000 ft., 1; Thompson Canyon, 2500 ft., 2 (PC); 1/2 mi. W Palmer Canyon, 2000 ft., 3 (PC).

Family FELIDAE

Lynx rufus californicusMearns

Wildcat

Wildcats range over the whole of the San Gabriel Range, with the possible exception of the tops of the highest peaks such as Mt. San Antonio and Mt. Baden Powell. Sign of these animals has been observed, or specimens have been taken, from the coastal sage belt up to about 8500 feet in the yellow pine forests on Blue Ridge. The subspeciesbaileyioccurs on the desert slope of the range.

Wildcats are most common in the chaparral belt where they forage widely from the ridges down into the canyons. Judging from trapping records bobcats are not so common here as the gray fox.

Bobcats occur in the sage belt, where they are most common in the broken country around washes and in brushy areas. Although bobcats and coyotes occupy the same general areas here, the habitat preferences of these animals seem to be different, with coyotes occupying the more open country. An indication of the hunting habits of bobcats is furnished by the occurrence of masses of prickly-pear thorns beneath the skin of the legs, particularly the forelegs, of three specimens trapped in the sage belt. These thorns probably were acquired while the bobcats foraged for woodrats or cottontails in the patches of prickly-pear, which are locally abundant in the sage belt.

On March 12, 1951, a small subadult female bobcat, trapped at 4000 feet in San Antonio Canyon, was found dead in the trap and had numerous deep cuts around its head and shoulders, and severe bruises on the right shoulder. The spacing of the cuts, and the tracks around the set, indicated that while held in the trap this animal had fought with a second bobcat that had inflicted the fatal wounds. It seems unlikely that the fight was caused by a maleattempting to copulate with the female held in the trap, for the female was found to be carrying an embryo.

In Live Oak Canyon, in December, 1950, tracks and bits of fur indicated that a bobcat had killed and eaten a gray squirrel. Remains of cottontails were found in the stomachs of two bobcats. All six bobcats from the Pacific slope had nematode worms in the pyloric end of the stomach.

Two females obtained on March 12 and 19, 1951, each had one embryo approximately one inch long (rump to crown).

The following list gives the weight of each of the specimens from the Pacific slope of the San Gabriels.

Specimens examined.—Total, 8, distributed as follows: Los Angeles County: San Antonio Canyon, 4000 ft., 1; San Antonio Canyon, 3200 ft., 1; 4 mi. N Claremont, 1900 ft., 2; Thompson Canyon, 1800 ft., 1; 3 mi. NE Claremont, 1700 ft., 2; Little Dalton Canyon, 1500 ft., 1 (PC).

Table 12.—Weights of Lynx rufus californicus from the San Gabriel Mountains.

Lynx rufus baileyiMerriam

Wildcat

This subspecies is widely distributed on the desert slope of the range, and was recorded down to the lower edge of the juniper belt. Tracks were observed on many occasions in yellow pine forest, but wildcats seemed to be commonest in the brushy parts of the pinyon-juniper association. Two were trapped in small draws linedwith pinyons and scrub oak, and two at the base of rocky pinyon-covered slopes. Only occasionally were tracks noted in the lower part of the juniper belt. Bobcats are most numerous where woodrats also reach peak abundance, suggesting that woodrats are a major food.

The four specimens from the desert slope, although exhibiting a wide range of variation, are all representatives of the desert racebaileyi. A yearling male from near the head of Grandview Canyon, at 5200 feet elevation, has the profuse black spotting of the subspeciescalifornicus, but the general pallor dorsally is characteristic of the desert subspecies. An adult female, from 4700 feet elevation in Graham Canyon, shows the double mid-dorsal black line and the distinct black markings around the face characteristic ofcalifornicus, but is otherwise pale with reduced black patterns on the backs of the ears. The other two specimens, an adult male and a yearling female, are typical examples ofbaileyi, pale, and with reduced black markings. None of the specimens of bobcats from the coastal slope of the mountains showed characters approaching those ofbaileyi. It seems, therefore, that these two subspecies intergrade on the interior slope of the range.

A yearling male weighed 12 pounds, and a yearling female weighed 10.5 pounds. An old male weighed 19.6 pounds, and an adult female weighed 15.1 pounds.

Remains of deer were in two of the bobcat stomachs, and one of these stomachs also contained jack rabbit remains. Approximately a dozen nematodes (stomach worms) were in the stomach of one of the larger male specimens.

Specimens examined.—Total, 4, distributed as follows: Los Angeles County: Mescal Canyon, 4800 ft., 1; Graham Canyon, 4700 ft., 1; Grandview Canyon, 5200 ft., 2.

Felis concolor californicaMay

Mountain Lion

Several cabin owners near the mouth of Icehouse Canyon reported seeing a lion in that area in 1950, and others said they saw huge cat tracks in Icehouse Canyon. State Trapper James Wolfort reported that he trapped two lions on the coastal face of the range in 1947. Authentic reports indicate that mountain lions occur in remote sections on both slopes of the range, and in these areas mountain lions probably are as common as they ever were.

Family CERVIDAE

Odocoileus hemionus californicus(Caton)

Mule Deer

Mule deer are common in chaparral areas on both slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains. The animals or their tracks have been observed from the coastal sagebrush flats up to about 9200 feet on Mount San Antonio, and on the desert slope down to the lower limit of the juniper belt.

Deer are plentiful in the upper chaparral belt, and large bands are often noted there in spring. These bands may form in the up-mountain migration and reoccupation of areas which were covered by winter snows. A band of fourteen was observed on March 17, 1951, one mile east of the mouth of Cattle Canyon, and bands of about half a dozen individuals each were often noted in March, 1951, at the base of Icehouse Canyon. Cronemiller and Bartholomew (1950) gave a good account of the mule deer in the chaparral belt of the San Gabriel Mountains.

On Blue Ridge in the fall of 1951, deer were plentiful, usually being observed near patches of snowbrush and sage. They were seldom found in the coniferous forests. On November 6, 1951, while tending a line of snap traps before sunup, I startled a deer from its bed at one edge of a several-acre patch of snowbrush. In synchrony with the noise made by this deer's rising five other deer in various parts of the brush patch leaped up and made off. When bedded down in these extensive brush tracts deer are probably safe from an undetected approach, for a noiseless approach through the brush is impossible.

Two deer skulls from the San Gabriels were examined: that of an adult male from Evey Canyon, and that of an adult female from the mouth of Palmer Canyon. Using as a basis for comparison the cranial measurements for the subspeciescalifornicusandfuliginatusgiven by Cowan (1933:326), these skulls were subspeciescalifornicus. In none of the cranial characteristics considered did they tend toward the southern racefuliginatus. A young adult male, however, which was killed by a car near Cajon Pass on October 2, 1951, showed pelage characteristics offuliginatus. Its fresh winter pelage was dark, and had the distinct black mid-dorsal line and the broad dorsal line on the tail mentioned by Cowan (ibid.) as distinguishing marks of the racefuliginatus. Its cranial measurements were not taken. Judging from this limited material the deer in the central part of the range, that is to say, in the San Antonio Canyon region, are of the racecalifornicus, whilefuliginatusmay penetrate the extreme eastern end of the range.

Deer hair and bones were often found in coyote feces from the sagebrush belt. Some of these records may represent deer eaten as carrion. On February 6, 1952, tracks across a sandy channel in San Antonio Wash demonstrated that a deer had been closely pursued by a coyote. The deer had leaped from a cutbank onto the sand, had whirled around in several sharp turns, and had run into the adjacent brush. The tracks of a running coyote followed every twist of the deer's trail. The trail was followed into the brush where it was lost. Two bobcats trapped near Graham Canyon on the desert slope had hair and bones of deer in their stomachs.

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