NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



271 



throated sparrow, slate colored junco, 

 Bohemian waxwing, Philadelphia virco, 

 blue-headed vireo, northern parula war- 

 bler, Tennessee warbler, pine warbler, 

 myrtle warbler, mourning warbler, 

 magnolia warbler, black-throated blue 

 warbler, Blackburnian warbler, palm 

 warbler, Grinnell's water-thrush, Con- 

 necticut warbler, Wilson's warbler, 

 Canada warbler, Louisiana water- 

 thrush, olive-backed thrush, hermit 

 thrush, winter wren, brown creeper, 

 red-breasted nuthatch, Hudsonian 

 chickadee, and golden-crowned kinglet. 



A considerable number of animal 

 species were not so strictly confined to 

 the Coniferous area but ranged farther 

 southward and westward into the ad- 

 joining deciduous forest formation. Of 

 these the principal ones were: elk 

 {Cervus canadensis), northern flying- 

 squirrel (Glaucomys sabriniis), Min- 

 nesota red squirrel {Scitcrus hudsonicus 

 minnesota), red-backed vole (Evotomys 

 gap-peri), bog-lemming {Synaptomys co- 

 operi), black bear {Ursus americanus), 

 eastern cougar {Felis couguar), red fox 

 [Vulpes fulva), timber wolf {Canis 

 nubilus), short-tailed weasel (Mustela 

 cicognanii), marsh shrew {Neosorex 

 paluslris), Canada beaver (Castor cana- 

 densis), and the muskrat {Ondatra 

 zibethica). 



Among the more notable fishes of this 

 region might be mentioned the fol- 

 lowing: Lake sturgeon {Acipenser rubi- 

 cxmdus), common whitefish {Coregonus 

 clupeiformis), lake herring (Argyroso- 

 mus artedi), tullibee (Argyrasomus tulbi- 

 bee), Great Lake trout {Cristimover 

 namaycush), brook trout {Salvelinus 

 fontinalis), muskallunge [Lucius 

 masquinonqy) . 



2. Deciduous forest. The deciduous 

 forest formation, interposed between 

 the coniferous forest and the western 

 grassland formed an almost continuous 

 belt from the southeastern to north- 

 western corner of the state except for 

 an irregular tongue of prairie extend- 

 ing from middle northern Iowa north- 

 eastward almost to the Mississippi river 

 through Freeborn, Mower, Steele, Dodge, 



Rice, Dakota and part of Goodhue coun- 

 ties. The portion of this formation 

 stretching nortliward from the big bend 

 of the Minnesota River as far as Otter 

 Tail County was named the "Big 

 Woods" by the earlj* explorers and was 

 a hardwood forest of imposing propor- 

 tions. Along the 45° parallel of latitude 

 it was nearly 100 mi. in width but from 

 the 46° parallel northwestward it nar- 

 rowed down to an average width of 

 about 25 mi. with frequent deep indenta- 

 tions of the prairie formation. 



The dominant trees of this forest 

 were hard maple {Acer saccharum), 

 slippery elm {Ulmus fulva), white elm 

 {Ulmus, americana), basswood {Tilia 

 americana), bur oak {Quercus macro- 

 car pa), red oak {Quercus rubra) and 

 ironwood {Ostrya virginiana). Other 

 species occurring less typically were 

 coarse toothed aspen {Populus grandi- 

 dcniata), black cherry {Prunus serotina), 

 green ash, black ash, hackberry {Cellis 

 occidcntalis), pignut hickory {Carya 

 cordiformis) and butternut {Juglans 

 cinerea). 



The characteristic shrubs of this 

 formation were: prickly gooseberry 

 {Ribes Cynosbati), Missouri gooseberry 

 {Ribes gracile), thorn apple {Crataegus 

 punctata), choke cherry, juneberry 

 {Amelanchier canadensis), prickly ash 

 {XantJwxylum aniericanum) , stag-horn 

 sumac {Rhus typhina), alternate-leaved 

 dogwood {Cornus alternifolia) , round- 

 leaved dogwood {Cornus circinata), 

 black haw {Viburnum lenlaga) and 

 honeysuckle {Lonicera dioica). A few 

 climbers occurred in this forest such as 

 bitter sweet {Celastrus scandens), wild 

 grapevine {Vitis vulpina), Virginia 

 creeper {Psedera quinquefolia) and 

 moonseed {MenispeYmum canadense). 



In the southeastern corner of the 

 state along tlie Missis.sippi River and 

 the lower portions of its tributaries 

 existed originally a deciduous forest of 

 very similar nature to the "Big Woods." 

 This forest, being rather sharply sepa- 

 rated from the latter by the above men- 

 tioned extension of the prairie formation 

 differed in some important respects and 



