THE SUMMER BIRDS OF THE HIGHER PARTS OF 

 SULLIVAN AND WYOMING COUNTIES, PA. 



COMPILED BY WITMER STONE. 



From Personal Observations and those of Messrs. Otto and Herman Behr. 



The boreal element in the avifauna of Pennsylvania has been stead- 

 ily decreasing for a number of years past as the primitive hemlock and 

 spruce forest disappears before the advance of the lumberman. Sev- 

 eral lists of birds of those parts of the State which possess a more or 

 leSkS typical Canadian fauna have appeared, but the present area seems 

 to have had the most strongly marked Canadian fauna of any part of 

 eastern Pennsylvania that I have visited, and a list of the birds will 

 therefore prove of interest. This is especially the case since I have at 

 my disposal the observations of Messrs. Otto and Herman Behr, of 

 Lopez, Pa., two excellent ornithologists, who have spent their lives in 

 the region under consideration. To their hospitality I owe the privi- 

 lege of making a personal acquaintance with the birds of this vicinity 

 in June, 1898 and 1899, and to Dr. Wm. E. Hughes and Mr. Henry 

 W. Fowler, who accompanied me on these trips, I am indebted for many 

 notes. 



Eastern Sullivan county — Colley township — and western Wyoming 

 county — Forkston and North Branch townships — comprise part of the 

 main ridge of the Alleghanies, with an elevation of 2,200 feet. Except 

 where the timber has been cut the country is covered with a forest o^ 

 hemlock and birch, with here and there extensive patches of spruce, 

 especially in the vicinity of Crane Swamp, in North Branch township, 

 Wyoming county. Two streams drain this section, the Mahoopeny 

 flowing east and the Loyalsock west, the watershed being nearly on the 

 county line. 



Porcupines, Red-backed Mice and Varying Hares are plentiful 

 throughout the region, and doubtless other boreal mammals formerly 

 occurred. The numerous Warblers, Thrushes, Junco, Olive-sided Fly- 

 catcher, Red-bellied Nuthatch, Winter Wren, Creeper and Kinglet are 

 characteristic birds. Among the abundant butterflies were noted 

 Ltmenitis arthemis, Vanessa milberti, Argyrinis at/aniis, Mcliicia 

 harrisii, and M. phceton, while boreal plants abound. 



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