ICO BULLETIN OF THE 



valley of the Platte, at an altitude of about 12,000 feet, from whence 

 excursions were made every day by some of the party to the region 

 above the timber line, which is here about 13,000 feet above the 

 sea-level. One excursion was made to the top of Mount Lincoln, 

 the height of which is usually given as a little over 14,000 feet. 

 Three species (Anthus ludovicianus, Leucosticte tephrocoiis, Lagopus 

 leucurus) were obtained above timber line that are truly arctic in their 

 summer distribution, and nearly all the others are known to range to 

 high northern latitudes. Snow remains throughout the year in the 

 gorges nearly down to the forest line, and frosts are of almost nightly 

 occurrence at points considerably below Montgomery, the temperature 

 in July frequently falling to below 30° F. The showers of rain, which 

 were of almost daily occurrence during our visit, are generally attended 

 with heavy thunder, hail, and sleet. Ice is said to form every night at 

 the mining camp on Quandary Peak, about 13,500 feet above the sea. 



The timber which thickly covers the lower slopes consists almost ex- 

 clusively of a single kind of spruce, with here and there representatives 

 of two species of Populus. No other conifer was observed higher up 

 than at a point in the Platte valley about five miles below Montgomery, 

 or much above 11,500 feet. Two or three kinds of willow and a small 

 Betula occur abundantly in the upper valley of the Platte, and on the 

 declivities of the mountains in places unoccupied by the heavier forest, 

 up to 300 to 500 feet above the limit of trees, becoming more and 

 more diminutive towards their upper limit. For some distance above 

 the forest line are beautiful grassy slopes, and a variety of herbaceous 

 plants, most of them producing a profusion of large, brightly tinted 

 flowers. Many of the species are peculiar to this elevated region, 

 while some are dwarfed or otherwise modified forms of species met 

 with much lower down. Even anions the snow-tilled jrorsies are 

 extensive flower-sprinkled grass-plats of great beauty, a variety of di- 

 minutive and exquisitely pretty plants ranging even to the summit of 

 Mount Lincoln, wherever there is soil enough to afford them a foothold. 



Among the other arctic animals observed are the Little Chief Hare 

 (Lagomys prhiceps), abundant among the loose rocks from a little 

 below timber-line to far above it, and several alpine butterflies. 



Nearly all the birds mentioned below were met with as high as the 

 timber line, and many ranged above it. Wilsonia pusilla, Zonotricliia 

 leucophrys, and Mclospiza Lincolni were nowhere more abundant than 



