Terry A. Vaughan

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Lower in the juniper belt the dry rocky south slopes supporting yucca plants are well populated by pallidus, while adjacent flats, and north slopes grown to antelope brush and scrub oak, are completely uninhabited. Near the mouth of Grandview Canyon, on steep rocky southern exposures grown sparsely to burro weed and yucca, one hundred traps produced in one night eight pallidus and no other rodents. Here many of these pocket mice were trapped on large fractured rock outcroppings, where most or all of the mice probably lived in the daytime in the deep cracks ”

“ The ecologic niche of the brush rabbit is in brush where the plants form continuous thickets with little open ground. In the coastal sagebrush flats, areas supporting only scattered bushes are uninhabited by brush rabbits, while areas grown to extensive tracts of brush harbor them. When the brush rabbit's mode of escape from its enemies is considered, the reason for their habitat preference becomes more clear. Almost invariably these rabbits seek escape by running through the densest portions of the brush, never appearing in the open ”

“ The abruptness with which one habitat gives way to another in this association causes sharp dividing lines between the local ranges of certain mammals. For example, in trap lines transecting dry washes and level sageland two assemblages of rodents were found. That part of the line amid the boulders and cutbanks of the wash [Pg 522] took mostly Peromyscus eremicus fraterculus and Neotoma lepida intermedia, while Perognathus fallax fallax, Dipodomys agilis agilis, and Peromyscus maniculatus gambeli were taken in the adjacent sage flats. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The soil of the rather level sageland in most places is rocky or gravelly, or, as adjacent to washes, it is finely sandy in texture, and supports the major plants of the association. Most of the eroded adobe banks at the bases of the foothills support these same plants, with white sage being the dominant species. Locally, as in damp hollows or cleared areas, there is grassland. Jumbles of boulders, sand, gravel, and steep cutbanks, are characteristic of the channels of dry washes, these areas supporting sparse vegetation. ”

“ The precipitation, for 1951, of 25.36 inches recorded at the mouth of San Antonio Canyon on the Pacific slope contrasts with 7.17 inches recorded at Valyermo at the desert base. Nearly all of the precipitation comes in winter. The higher parts of the range, above approximately 5000 feet, receive much of their mid-winter precipitation in the form of snow. Snow often extends down the desert slope well into the Joshua Tree belt. When there are heavy winter rains the channels of the usually dry washes are filled with rushing, turbid water. ”

“ In the juniper belt the juniper tree is of marked ecologic significance; the distribution of Peromyscus truei and Neotoma fuscipes is determined here by the presence of junipers. At certain times of year the fruit of this plant is eaten by coyotes, kangaroo rats, and wood rats. ”

“ Peromyscus californicus and Peromyscus boylii, the only ground-dwelling rodents commonly found here, usually are taken near the limited areas of brushy growth, or the shelter afforded by logs and fallen branches. The paucity of shelter for small mammals seems to be an important factor limiting rodent populations in the oak woodland.
In the foothills of the San Gabriels the gray squirrel is restricted to the oak woodland, even though this association may be represented by only a narrow strip of canyon bottom oak trees. ”

“ Because the washes are in the same geographic area as the juniper belt they are discussed together. These washes on desert slopes are densely populated by rodents derived from adjacent areas, and support vegetation typical of higher floral belts in association with xerophytic, typically desert, species. In a sense, the washes serve to mix up the mammals of adjacent areas. For example, Onychomys torridus pulcher and Peromyscus eremicus eremicus, which are mammals typical of the desert, were found in Mescal Wash above their usual desert range ”

“ Cottontails are seldom above the sage belt in the chaparral associations, although along firebreaks and roads they occasionally occur there. Habitually cottontails escape predators in partly open [Pg 541] terrain offering retreats such as low, thick brush, rock piles, and cactus patches; but on open ground beneath dense chaparral, cottontails may be vulnerable to predation.
Examinations of feces and stomach contents of the coyote reveals that it preys more heavily on cottontails than on any other wild species. Remains of several cottontails eaten by raptors were found in the sage belt. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ In years when the population of jack rabbits is not low they serve as a major food for coyotes. In the Joshua tree belt below Mescal Canyon, jack rabbit remains were fairly common in coyote feces, and tracks repeatedly showed where some coyote had pursued a jack rabbit for a short distance. ”

“ At scattered points along the crest of the range and on the desert slope, the Nevadan Biotic Province is represented by the sagebrush scrub association. No mammals can be considered typical of this region. ”

“ Because of the steep, rocky nature of many of the slopes and the lack of soil on them, vegetation may be sparse even at high elevations. There are few meadows in the mountains.
Because the San Gabriels stand approximately thirty miles from the Pacific Ocean and are a partial barrier to Pacific air masses [Pg 518] sweeping inland, the desert side and the coastal side of the range differ climatically. The coastal slope receives much heavier precipitation than the desert slope. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Several habitats within the chaparral community support few species of mammals and few individuals. Possibly the compact, rocky nature of the soil limits burrowing rodents, and the lack of herbaceous growth limits the food supply. Steep rocky slopes in San Antonio Canyon grown to mountain-mahogany and scrub oak were sparsely populated by Peromyscus boylii rowleyi, Peromyscus californicus insignis, and Neotoma fuscipes macrotis. ”

“ These mice are inactive above ground in cold weather. In the sage belt near Thompson Canyon, where this subspecies had been found to be the most common rodent, none was trapped on the sub-freezing night of December 3, 1948, although other rodents were found in usual numbers. Individuals have been taken on nights of intermittent rain, yet none has been trapped on freezing nights.
This species is characteristically heavily infested by a large species of mite. Usually these mites congregate around the base of the tail.
On October 11, 1949, one lactating female and two carrying embryos were taken. ”

“ 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 composed [Pg 574] mostly 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. ”

“ Bands of bighorn sheep occur on some of the higher and more rugged peaks of the San Gabriel Mountains. Although I never sighted the animals themselves, I have seen abundant signs of their presence on the ridge sloping west from Telegraph Peak at about 9000 feet elevation. Several bands reportedly range in the head of San Antonio Canyon, and to the south on Telegraph, Ontario, and Cucamonga peaks. The sheep usually stay in the higher sections of the range, generally above about 7000 feet elevation. ”

“ The forest probably harbors surplus individuals from adjacent preferred habitats, or, as in the case of chipmunks and ground squirrels, the forest often serves as forage ground while nearby brushy areas are utilized for breeding and shelter. The abundance of birds in the timber contrasts strikingly with the paucity of mammals there. The lack of a seed-producing understory, and the open duff-covered stretches of ground on which rodents would be extremely vulnerable to predation, probably in part account for the scarcity of rodents. ”

“ The opossum is common in and near small towns and cultivated areas at the Pacific base of the mountain range and does not thrive away from human habitation; extensive trapping in the coastal sage and chaparral belts produced no specimens except immediately adjacent to citrus groves. ”

“ This mouse inhabited the barren sandy channels of Mescal Wash but was rare on the adjacent juniper-clad benches. In the arid, sandy washes this typical desert rodent penetrated the high pinyon-juniper association.
Wherever grasshopper mice occurred they were outnumbered by most of the other rodent species. For example, on November 26, 1949, below Graham Canyon, 100 snap traps yielded 10 Dipodomys panamintinus mohavensis, 2 Dipodomys merriami merriami, 4 Peromyscus maniculatus sonoriensis, and 3 Onychomys torridus pulcher. ”

“ Collecting was generally carried on until at least 11:00 p. m., and the time at which each bat was taken at the pond was recorded, thereby making possible a rough estimate of the pre-midnight forage period of each bat commonly collected at the ponds. Usually bats taken at the start of their supposed forage period had empty or nearly empty stomachs, whereas those taken towards the end of their forage period had full or nearly full stomachs. M. evotis usually first appeared just at dark, well after the pipistrelles and California myotis had begun foraging. ”

“ Antelope ground squirrels were common in the Joshua tree woodland where they were noted up to 4500 feet elevation in Graham Canyon. None was found on the pinyon slopes, possibly because of the competition offered there by Eutamias merriami, or because the rocky nature of the soil there rendered burrowing difficult.
[Pg 545]
Although observed less often in winter than in summer, this species is active all year. On February 6, 1949, in Mescal Wash, an antelope ground squirrel was foraging over the snow which was at least six inches deep. ”