EXPLORATION OF NORTHEASTERN KOREA 



267 



as much as seventy miles a day in the upper reaches of the Yalu and landed 

 at the Chinese city of Antung on the west coast, where connections were 

 made for Seoul by train. We had traveled entirely across northern Korea. 

 Although the specimens secured upon this trip have not yet reached 

 the Museum, the zoological 

 results of the expedition can- 

 not but be of considerable 

 importance. The mammals 

 of Korea are especially in- 

 teresting in relation to the 

 problems of the Japanese in- 

 sular fauna and its origin, 

 and specimens from the 

 northern part of the penin- 

 sula will be of great impor- 

 tance in this study. Since 

 the region had never been 

 visited by a zoologist it will 

 undoubtedly be found that a 

 large percentage of the small 

 mammals are new to science. 

 The birds, of which a con- 

 siderable number were se- 

 cured, will in many cases 

 probably prove to be of the 

 same species as those of 

 northern Europe, for al- 

 though thousands of miles 

 away they are still in the 

 same life zone which stretches 

 entirely across the continents 

 of Europe and Asia. 



It was interesting to find that the dense forests were practically without 

 birds or mammals — at least during the time in which I visited them. 

 Three species of small rodents were the only mammals which could be 

 . trapped, and birds were almost totally absent. Later in the year during 

 the hot months of summer, the Koreans told me that bear, deer and a large 

 stag were sometimes found near the Paik-tu-san, but that they did not go 

 into the woods until the grass was long and the pasturage good. 



As collecting was conducted across the watershed from the Tumen 

 River region into that of the Yalu a very good representation of the fauna 

 of this hitherto unknown section of Korea was secured for the Museum. 



Korean gun-bearer picking azaleas. These flowers 

 cover the mountain slopes about the first of June 



