STUDENT DAYS 43 



I was received with the kindest welcome at 

 Coalburg, then a remote place where they saw 

 few people from the North. 



Coalburg is situated in the valley of the Kana- 

 wha River, which is here narrow with high hills 

 on either side. The river is about a quarter of a 

 mile wide generally, winding in and out among 

 hills. These rise abruptly just back from the 

 river, there being little bottom-land. At the 

 time I visited this region they were heavily tim- 

 bered with a growth of poplar, beech, oak, and 

 some chestnut, though beech was one of the most 

 noticeable of the forest trees. Small streams 

 flowed down at frequent intervals from the high 

 hills above, which formed a spur of the Alleghany 

 Range. They can hardly be called mountains, as 

 they attain a height of not more than seven hun- 

 dred feet above the level of the river. From my 

 paper published in 1872 I quote the following 

 sentences : — 



"This elevation, however, is great enough to make a very 

 decided variation in the temperature and surrounding conditions 

 from those of the valley, and hence affords some interesting 

 facts relative to the local distribution of the species through the 

 same area of country. The birds of the Alleghanian fauna gen- 

 erally are found on the mountain sides and tops, and those of 

 the Carolinian fauna in the valleys. Of course, in so small an 

 area, birds of both the above-mentioned faunae were found in 

 either of the localities, but the above seems to be the general 

 rule." 



