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