Mammals of the San Gabriel Mountains of California Part 10

In the pinyon-juniper a.s.sociation most of the large plants were used 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 race _macrotis_ and _simplex_ of 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 race _simplex_. Two specimens of this species from the granite talus above the base of Icehouse Canyon at 5500 feet on the Pacific slope, grade strongly toward _simplex_. Hooper (1938:231) mentions that specimens of this species taken along the San Gabriel and San Bernardino ranges may be intermediate between _simplex_ and _macrotis_.

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 h.e.l.leri_) 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 sanctidiegi= R. Kellogg

California Meadow Mouse

Owing to the paucity of extensive areas of gra.s.sland in the San Gabriels, this is one of the least common rodents of the area. It inhabits, however, even small patches of gra.s.sland up to 4000 feet elevation on the Pacific slope, and is locally plentiful. For example, a small patch of gra.s.sland amid the chaparral at the mouth of Palmer Canyon supported many _Microtus_, and in San Antonio Canyon at about 3000 feet elevation meadow mice were found amid boulders and yuccas in a small gra.s.sy 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 america.n.u.s californiensis= J. 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

=Ba.s.sariscus astutus octavus= Hall

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 psora= Gray

Racc.o.o.n

The racc.o.o.n 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 racc.o.o.ns 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 racc.o.o.ns 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 racc.o.o.ns were trapped although the only water was a series of small, disconnected seepage pools beneath the valley oaks.

A racc.o.o.n freed from a small steel trap in San Antonio Canyon concealed itself in an unusual but extremely effective manner. When released the c.o.o.n 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 racc.o.o.n 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 racc.o.o.n hid in the same manner several times before it disappeared up a rocky draw into the scrub oak brush.

In the autumn of 1951, racc.o.o.ns 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 latirostra= Hall

Long-tailed Weasel

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

=Taxidea taxus neglecta= Mearns

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 berlandieri= Baird

Badger

Many old badger diggings were found in the Joshua tree woodland and pinyon-juniper a.s.sociations 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 subspecies _berlandieri_.

=Mephitis mephitis holzneri= Mearns

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 p.r.i.c.kly-pear cactus is often eaten. Near the mouth of Thompson Canyon feces examined in October 1948, contained almost exclusively the remains of p.r.i.c.kly-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 microrhina= Hall

Spotted Skunk

Spotted skunks are common locally in the coastal sage scrub a.s.sociation and lower chaparral a.s.sociation 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.