DAWSON — RESTORATION OF FORESTS. 413 



When a district has undergone this last change, — when the 

 sombre woods and the shade-loving plants that grow beneath 

 them have given place to open fields, clothed with cultivated 

 plants, — the metamorphosis which has taken place extends in its 

 effects to the indigenous animals; and in this department its 

 effects are nearly as conspicuous and important as in relation to 

 vegetation. Some wild animals are incapable of accommodating 

 themselves to the change of circumstances ; others at once adapt 

 themselves to new modes of life, and increase greatly in numbers. 

 It was before stated that the barrens, when clothed with shrubs, 

 young trees, and herbaceous plants, were in a condition highly 

 favourable to the support of wild animals ; and perhaps there are 

 few species which could not subsist more easily in a country at 

 least partially in this state. For this reason, the transition of a 

 country from the forest state to that of burned barrens is tempo- 

 rarily favourable to many species, which disappear before the 

 progress of cultivation ; and this would be more evident than it 

 is, if European colonization did not tend to produce a more 

 destructive warfare against such species than could be carried on 

 by the aborigines. The ruffed grouse, a truly woodland bird, 

 becomes, when unmolested, more numerous on the margins of 

 barrens and clearings than in other parts of the woods. The hare 

 multiplies exceedingly in young second growths of birch. The 

 wild pigeon has its favourite resort in the barrens during a great 

 part of the summer. The moose and cariboo, in summer, find 

 better supplies of food in second growth and barrens than in the 

 old forests. The large quantities of decaying wood, left by fires 

 and wood cutters, afford more abundant means of subsistence to 

 the tribe of woodpeckers. Many of the fly-catchers, warblers, 

 thrushes, and sparrows, greatly prefer the barrens to most other 

 places. Carnivorous birds and quadrupeds are found in such 

 places in numbers proportioned to the supplies of food which they 

 afford. The number of instances of this kind might be increased 

 to a great extent if necessary ; enough has, however, been stated 

 to illustrate the fact. 



Nearly all the animals above noticed, and many others, dis- 

 appear when the country becomes cultivated. There are, however, 

 other species which increase in numbers, and at once adapt them- 

 selves to the new conditions introduced by man. The robin 

 ( Turdus migratorius) resorts to and derives its subsistence from 

 fields, and greatly multiplies, though much persecuted by sports- 



