10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



Clintonia horcalia, and others. Here also we find many liirds 

 typical of the Canadian fauna, such as Olive-backed Thrush, 

 Brown Creeper, Winter Wren, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Crossbills, 

 and many of the northern forms of Warblers, including the 

 Blackburnian, Magnolia, Canadian, Black-throated Blue, and 

 Black-throated Green. 



Now contrast these conditions with those prevailing in certain 

 sections of the Swamp which were ravaged by fire in 1897, or 

 in those parts of the surrounding country from which the 

 original timber has been removed. Instead of the greenness 

 and the cool, refreshing beds of moss, all is parched and dry. 

 Where the fire has been there is no longer any shade to exclude 

 the fierce rays of the sun: no water anywhere; only blackened 

 stumps and logs, and dry, powdery beds of sphagnum. These 

 are conditions under Avhich no life can exist. Hence we find 

 neither plants nor birds, but only a barren waste. Even where 

 the fire has not penetrated, but the original green timber has 

 been supplemented by a second growth of oaks and other purely 

 deciduous trees — as in the country immediately surrounding 

 the Swamp — there too conditions are completely altered. The 

 soil is more dry and parched, and there is the absence of that 

 coolness and freshness so characteristic of the primeval forest of 

 hemlocks and birches. Accordingly, instead of the boreal 

 plants and birds which are so abundant in those portions of 

 Tamarack Swamp still untouched by axe or fire, we find Song 

 Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows, Catbirds, Robins, Goldfinches, 

 Kingbirds, Yellow Warblers, and other species characteristic of 

 a more southern fauna. 



The same story might be told of the Kettle Creek Valley 

 region in Potter County. Here the transition from one fauna 

 and flora to another is even more striking. The first seven 

 miles of the road leading up this valley from Cross Forks to 

 Oleona are marked by an entire absence of the original green 

 timber. For several miles back from the road, the hills, with 

 few exceptions, are absolutely stripped of woodland. Ever^'- 

 thing is dry and barren, and except along the creek bed the 

 land is practically unfit for cultivation. Here and there, also, 

 one notices the traces of a recent forest fire. Not soon shall I 



