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 lined with 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 race
_baileyi_. A yearling male from near the head of Grandview Canyon, at
5200 feet elevation, has the profuse black spotting of the subspecies
_californicus_, 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 of _californicus_, 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 of _baileyi_, pale, and with reduced black markings. None of
the specimens of bobcats from the coastal slope of the mountains showed
characters approaching those of _baileyi_. 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 californica= May