ll as the mountain quail, swallow whole
the acorns, which this season lay beneath the live oak trees in lavish
abundance; long thin acorns, quite different from ours. In the San
Jacinto Reserve I made a cruise through the southern half; much of this
section is clothed in scrub oak, with scattered deer throughout. In the
northern and more mountainous portions, on the contrary, one finds
himself in the open forest, the summer range of the deer. At the time of
our visit these were at a lower altitude, in the chaparral and among the
scrub oaks of the foothills.

Going thence by rail north to Santa Barbara, I inspected the narrow
strip of the Santa Ynez Reserve, and the eastern and western sections of
the Zaca Lake and Pine Mountain Reserve. These are under the control of
different forest supervisors; they are both largely composed of
chaparral country, with scattered "pineries" on the mountains. The
hunting here is regulated, to a certain degree, by the problem of feed
and water for the stock used by the hunters in gaining access to the
ground. Many enter these tracts from the south, as well as from the
region adjacent to Santa Barbara, and the deer have a somewhat harassed
and chivied existence, although, owing to the impenetrable nature of the
chaparral outside of the pineries, there is a natural limit to the power
of the sportsman to accomplish their entire extermination. The present
control of hunters by the forest rangers is only tentative; naturally we
hope to have in an ever-increasing degree more scientific management
both of the deer and of those who illegally kill them. The sentiment of
the community is enlightened, and would strengthen the hands of the
Government in enforcing the law. At present a ranger can do little more
than maintain, so far as he can, his authority by threats--threats which
he has not the power to enforce.

In the San Gabriel and San Bernardino Reserves one finds himself at last
in a forest country, with mountains which command respect, a section
full of superb feed for the deer, feed of many sorts, for the deer have
an attractive and varied bill of fare. Whole hillsides are found of
scrub oak, their chief stand-by, and of wild lilac or "deer brush," the
latter familiar to all readers of Muir as the Cleanothus, in those long
periods of Miltonic sweep and dignity in which he summons the clans of
the California herbs and shrubs; an enumeration as stately as the
Homeric catalogue of the ships,