Abstract: We collected 227 fecal samples of roe deer (Capreolus pygargus) and 28 plant species in January and February of 2010 and 2011, in Zhanhe forestry farm, Lesser Xingan Mountains of China. Then we analyzed the compositions of winter food for roe deer population using direct field observation (DFO) and microscopic analysis of feces (MAF). Results showed that:1)The diversity (2.458) and the evenness indices (0.784) of food composition by DFO in 2010 were higher than those by MAF with diversity (1.737) and the evenness index (0.579). The diversity (2.230) by MAF in 2011 was higher than that by DFO (1.414); however, the evenness index (0.645) by MAF was lower than that by DFO (0.698). The results of food composition from the DFO and MAF revealed that Betulaceae and Salicaceae are the major food sources for ore deer population which accounted for 76%-89% of all. 2)We compared the results of food composition from the two methods by regressional analysis, and found that with MAF the compositions of Betulaceae and Ulmaceae in both 2010 and 2011, Malvaceae and Rosaceae in 2010 were overestimated; however, Salicaceae, Poaceae, Polygonaceae in both two years as well as Rosaceae in 2010 and Malvaceae in 2011 were underestimated. There were significant differences in results between by DFO and MAF; however, DFO and MAF cannot be replaced by each other. 3)There was no significant correlation between tannins and the composition of food for roe deer. This might be because feeding behavior of roe deer is not affected by tannins in plants or this study only measured the content of total tannins but not deciding ellagitannins.