CoMPTON — The Birds of Douglas Lake Region 175 



is very keen ; most all of the survivors are dead in their low- 

 er limbs and are soon adorned for the funeral by a vigorous 

 colony of lichens, both of the crustaceous and filamentous 

 kinds. Only in a few places in the old logging roads does 

 the sunshine fall without obstruction even at noon ; in such 

 favored places there is a vigorous growth of vegetation of 

 many species, more than two hundred having been officially 

 identified by the botanists of the Station. Numerous minute 

 pools of water in the moss, and several brooks flowing a few 

 inches below the surface tell us that water is never very far 

 away, and suggest that perhaps Burt Lake has never quite 

 given up the struggle for this part of his ancient domain. 



The aspens are the pioneers of the drier lands. They en- 

 ter upon the scene early, tam'e the sand down a little and hold 

 it in their possession till the more dominant types appear, 

 fighting always a losing fight in which it is foreordained that 

 they go under unless some outside force interrupts the order- 

 ly march of events and starts the plant succession back near 

 the beginning. The outside force that has intervened in this 

 instance is the forest fire which has swept away practically 

 all of the splendid mixed pine and hardwood forest that once 

 covered these sandy stretches. Fire after fire has swept 

 through this aspen territory till now in a few localities it is 

 nearly as bare of vegetation, other than mosses and lichens, 

 as it was the day the sullen waters of the glacial lake re- 

 treated from it for the last time. Among the aspens grow the 

 white birch, red oak, pine, and a number of berry-bearing 

 plants such as the blackberry, huckleberry, two kinds of blue- 

 berries, the pin cherry and the wintergreen. 



The habitats discussed in this paper are the three that have 

 been described at some length in the foregoing pages. 



The tent which the writer lived in during the period men- 

 tioned was located on the beach of Douglas Lake ; obviously 

 the opportunities for observation were best in this habitat ; 

 furthermore the lake was rimmed by a growth of pines that 

 stood just where the beach and the aspens meet. There was 

 very little marsh or swamp in the region ; if we use the term 



