2 '^4 APPENDIX TO OSCINES. 



the poplars and willows had but jnst begun to pnt forth their leaves ; but once 

 started, the season advanced with great rapidity, and by the 15th, the deeicluous trees 

 had attained a complete foliage np to the highest limit of the pojilars, 10,500 or 11,000 

 feet. In anrnmn, the diti'erenee between this climate and that of eastern localities in 

 the same latitnde, is less marked. The leaves of the poplars and willows begin to 

 change color toward the close of Seiitember, and a month later have all fallen ; but it 

 is usually not till the middle or close of November that winter weather sets in. Heavy 

 snows sometimes fall in October, however, but unusual severity is generally followed 

 by a very mild, open winter'. The nights are always cool, even in midsummer, while 

 at mid-day tlie heat is at times oppressive, even at great elevations ; but in exposed 

 localities this is moderated by the strong winds that are almost constantly blowing. 



Above and near timber-line, which varies from 10,000 to 11,000 feet, the climate 

 partakes of an alpine nature. The immense accumulations of snow do not begin to 

 melt rapidly till about the middle of June ; but once started, they disappear very fast ; 

 the streams are swollen to thrice their usual size, and by the first of July only isolated 

 snow-fields renjain, many of which are of great extent, and have sufficient depth and 

 solidity to exist throughout the summer. Frosts are almost of nightly occurrence, 

 and during summer scarcely a day passes without frequent thundei'-storms, with hail, 

 sleet and rain. Light snows begin to fall in September, but it is not until November 

 that heavy snow-storms set in, and the range is usually passable till the middle of win- 

 ter, or even later, the heaviest snows falling in April and May. 



Many of the wider valleys have limited tracts of great fertility, and the immense 

 quantities of potatoes, rj^e and barley, raised on the scattered mountain ranches, attest 

 the adaptation of the soil to su^h crops. Yet the sum total of all the tillable land 

 scarcely amounts to as much as one or two per cent, of the whole ; while the remain- 

 der consists of rocky ridges and peaks, gravelly hills, gently sloping plateaus of sand 

 and glacial detritus, far above the valleys, and insusceptible of irrigation, and a gen- 

 eral surface so rough, craggy and inaccessible, as to be quite beyond the capabilities or 

 desires of the agriculturist. Nevertheless, on all the mountain-sides which are not 

 absolutely precipices of bare rock, in every nook and corner and crevice where the soil 

 can lodge, various grasses grow in great luxuriance, and furnish abundant food for num- 

 erous herds of cattle, the wild deer and sheep. Vast forests of pines and firs formerly 

 covered the whole face of the country, except the valleys and a few hill-sides, too 

 rocky or too barren even to support conifers ; but since the settlement of the country, 

 large tracts of timber have been cut down and their places supplied, to a great extent, 

 by young groves of poplars. Two species of Finns {P. ponderosa et P. contorta) range 

 np to within 1,000 feet of timber-line ; two others (P. aristaia et r.flex'tUs) are small 

 al])ine species; while Abies menvziesii et A. engdmanni form large forests, the former 

 almost monopolizing the region near timber-line. Of Poptdus there are three species, 

 cue growing extensively on the hill-sides, and extending up to 10,500 or 11,000 feet (P. 

 ireinidoidt's) ] the two others, mainly confined to the valleys of the larger streams, 

 where they grow amid dense thickets of willows, and not reaching much over 9,000 

 feet (P. avgustifolia et P. balsam if era). These few species, with Juniperiis viryiniainis, 

 which often grows to a large size, and extends, in a dwarfed form, far above timber- 

 line, comprise the limited sylva of the country. A species of Alnus, or small Betula, 

 various iSalices, and a Nef/itiido, grow in the rich bottom-lands, and flourish in rank 

 profusion on the banks of the streams, forming the densest thickets, and frequently 

 reaching a height of twenty feet or more. Different species of Eubus, Iiosa, Verasm, 

 Ribes, and other small bnsh-plants abound in the valleys and foiui thick copses on the 

 hill-sides, along with Clematis, Humiilus, Vilis, and other climbers. Among the annual 

 and biennial plants, however, the deficiency in number of species of the larger forms is 

 compensated. Although the species are quite different, the genera are for the most 

 part the same as in the eastern mountainous States, the order of flowering the same, 

 and, to a certain extent, there is the same relative proportions among families and 

 genera. Among distinctive features may be mentioned the abundance of various forms 

 of Borraginacea; — Echinospermum, Lilhospenmim, Cyiioglossum, Merteiisia, &c. ; the many 

 species oi Euphorbia, Senecio, and Erigcron, and the various alpine plants. Primula, Acti- 

 nella, &c. Yi-t, considering the vast intervening distance, the general aspect is strik- 

 ingly like that of the Alleghany region. The genera Viola, Castelleia,Saxifraga, Caltha, 

 Mimiihis, Pedicidaris, Polemonittm, Phlox, Helianthus, Solidago, Aster^ Erigcron, Senecio, 

 Cirsitim, Trifolium, iSilcne, Acpnlegia, liannnculns, Claglonia, Rosa, Pnhus, Nnbalus, Ambro- 

 sia, Bidens, Rudbeckia, and scores of others, are abundantly represented, and, as in New 

 York, are the predominating features of the flora. 



In the fauna we And, perhaps, more points of difference from the eastern mountain- 

 ous regions. The various genera of manmialia are the same, but nearly all the species 

 are diflerent. Among ailinials comuK^n to the two faunte, may be mentioned Felis eon- 

 color, Lgnx rufns, Cani oceidentalis, (Inlo luscus, Littra canadensis, Ursus americanus, and 

 CervHS canadensis, all large and, with a single exception, carnivorous species. The 

 smaller and granivorous maunnals are quite distinct, and many new genera are intro- 

 duced, while others are wanting. Cervus leucurus, C. macrotis, Aploceros montaniis, 



