8 



where an elevation of about 1,300 feet is reached. In 1834, in making the preliminary 

 surveys for the Whitewater Valley Canal, a puint near the line between Henry and 

 Randolph Counties %vas found with an elevation of 1,128 feet above sea level. The 

 line between the same counties on the I., B. & W. (O., I. & W.) survey is 1,175 feet. 

 The summit of the elevation between Green's Fork and Noland's Fork of Whitewater 

 in Wayne County has an elevation of 1,212 feet. From this height of land the 

 general level of the country slopes to the north, to Lake Erie, with an elevation of 

 573 feet, and Lake Michigan with an elevation of 585 feet; to the west to the 

 Wabash (elevation of low water of Wabash at Terre Haute 451 feet); to the south 

 to the Ohio (tlevation low water in Ohio River at Lawrencebiirg 434 feet). At the 

 mouth of the Wabash the lowest elevation is reached. Low water mark is noted 

 as 313 feet above the sea, and 2(50 feet below Lake Erie. The points indicated 

 represent the minimum elevations in eroded valleys, for it must be understood 

 that the descent is not that of a perfect inclined plane. While one descends quite 

 rapidly along the water courses, the general height of the starling point is well 

 maintained on the divides between the drainage area of streams. At the head of 

 Tanner's Creek, Dearborn County, the elevation is 1,035 feet; near Brockville, 

 Franklin County, an elevation of almost 1,100 feet is attained ; the top of a " knob " 

 eight miles west of Vienna, Washington County, is 1,019 feet; the surface between 

 White Lick Creek and Eel River, Hendricks County, is 1,054 feet; "High Point," 

 in Steuben County, is noted as 1,086 feet high (Geological Survey of Indiana, 1878). 

 The surface of the State presents considerable differences in its vegetation. The 

 heaviest timber has, for the greater part, disappeared, and was found foulh of the 

 latitude of Indianapolis. Throughout the northern part of the State the number 

 of large trees is much less and the general size of forest trees decreases noticeably 

 as one proceeds northward. Much of the area is covered with prairies — which are 

 now, except where cultivated, rapidly becoming overgrown with timber — marshes 

 and lakes. A few notes concerning some of the characteristic features of the 

 different quarters of the State are, perhaps, worthy of notice. 



The region about the southern end of Lake Michigan presents an unusually 

 fertile field for the ornithologist. Situated as it is, midway between the wooded 

 region of the East and the treeless plains of the West, with the warm river bot- 

 toms of the South, rich in southern species, extending within a comparatively 

 short distance, and the great lake upon the North, Northeastern Illinois forms a 

 kind of "four corners" where the avian faunse of four regions intergrade. To the 

 proximity of Lake Michigan we are indebted for a number of more or less strictly 

 maritime species. * * * As would be expected, the southern species occur 

 only in summer, with the exception of Lophophanes bicolor, which is found only in 

 winter. * * Not only is the influence of the lake upon the f aunie shown 



by the occurrence of numerous species of birds, attracted by the presence of a large 

 body of water with its congenial surroundings, but the influence of the lake upon 

 the climate and the vegetation in its immediate vicinity has a marked influence 

 upon the list of summer residents. The northwestern portion of the State is di- 

 vided into alternating tracts of prairie, marsh and woodland, each possessing a 

 bird life of its own. In Lake County, along the lake shore, is a stretch of pine 

 woods known as "the pinery," which is quite peculiar, (Condensed from E- 

 W. Nelson's notes of "Birds of N. E. Illinois.") Coming south one crosses the 

 Kankakee River and marshes, well known regions for water fowl and marsh- 

 inhabiting birds, and enters the Wabash Valley. Back from this valley proper 

 we find occasional prairies and extensive meadows, where such prairie-inhabiting 

 forms as Henslow's Sparrows, Yellow-winged Sparrows, Black-throated Buntings, 



