38 PROCEEDINGS MANCHESTER INSTITUTE 



(1256 ft.) ; the second follows the Connecticut up to the Con- 

 necticut Lakes at 16 19 ft. 



LIFE ZONES. 



From the foregoing, it is at once apparent that New Hamp- 

 shire offers unusually diverse conditions of environment, from 

 the sand dunes and salt marshes on the coast and the broad 

 valley bottoms of the southern and central portions, to the con- 

 iferous forests of the north and the small, yet not inconsiderable, 

 Alpine areas on the summits of its highest peaks. 



There are represented by the fauna and flora of the State no 

 less than five life zones, characterized by their peculiar species 

 of animals and plants, as follows : — 



Upper Austral. The slight trace of an upper austral element 

 forms no stable part of our fauna, and may be considered as in 

 large measure fortuitous. The White-eyed. Vireo ( Vireo nove- 

 boracensis) is stated to breed rarely at Manchester, which, 

 perhaps, might not be surprising when we recall that this is the 

 single location in the State, according to the chart given by 

 Hitchcock ('74). whose mean temperature during June, July 

 and August is 70 deg. F., the temperature which practically 

 limits the upper austral zone to the north (Merriam, '98, p. 55). 

 This record, however, is open to some doubt. No upper austral 

 birds are actually known to breed in New Hampshire, though 

 several have been recorded as stragglers. Thus, on August 7, 

 1880, a pair of Carolina Wrens {Thryo thorns ludovicianus) was 

 observed at Rye Beach by Mr. H. M. Spelman, and in the Con- 

 necticut valley, near the southwestern border, the Orchard Ori- 

 ole {Icterus spurius) has been recorded from Brattleboro, Yt. 

 (Howe, :02). New Hampshire cannot be said, however, to in- 

 clude any considerable area of upper austral territory, and the 

 occurrence of species characteristic of this zone is limited only 

 to such plainly isolated cases. 



Transition. This is an area of interdigitation and overlap- 

 ping of the ranges of northern and southern species, and 

 includes much of the open valley land along the courses of the 

 larger rivers up to about the 600-foot level, or even locally to 



