FAUNAL AREAS OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY— 

 THEIR PHYSICAL FEATURES AND CHARACTERISTIC BIRDS. 



The three great faunal zones which pass through Pennsylvania 

 and New Jersey may be divided into several well-defined regions, 

 which differ more or less in their physical features and consequently 

 in the character of their bird life. 



In southern New Jersey two principal regions may be recognized, 

 the Maritime Marshes and the Pine Barrens, with their Cedar 

 Swamps, while as we pass westward through Pennsylvania there are 

 the valleys of the Delaware, Schuylkill and Susquehanna — all of 

 these are included in the Carolinian Zone. Farther north and 

 northwest, between the large river valleys, are the Interior Uplands, 

 where the Carolinian birds begin to disappear. Then follow the 

 Blue Mountain range and the various detached ridges and foot hills 

 of the Appalacliian system, where the Alleghanian element is first 

 met with, and finally the Alleghany mountain proper, capped with the 

 deep Canadian hemlock forests. 



The Maritime Marshes. — The great salt marshes of New Jersey 

 stretch along the coast for one hundred miles, from Cape May to the 

 head of Barnegat Bay, averaging about two miles in width in the 

 lower portion and gradually narrowing northward. On the ocean 

 side they are bordered by a narrow line of sand-hills wliich separates 

 them from the low, shelving beach. Several large bays and sounds 

 intervene between the marshes and the sand-hills, communicating 

 with the ocean by narrow inlets. At several points the bays stretch 

 back and carry the marshes several miles inland, as along the Great 

 Egg Harbor and Mullica Rivers. The coast sand-hills sometimes 

 become wide enough to support a scanty growth of Pines {Phius 

 riffida), and Scrub Oaks (Quercus ilicifolia and Q. nigra), in which 

 the Fish Crows and Fish Hawks nest, while everywhere they are 

 covered with a thick growth of Bay-berry {Myrica cerifera), and in 

 this shelter a few Song Sparrows and Maryland Yellow-throats spend 

 the summer. 



The marshes themselves present throughout an even expanse of 

 green sedges and marsh grasses, with a thick carpet of Salicornia. 

 Everywhere thoroughfares and creeks of varying width wind their 

 way in and out in an endless tangle, and at low tide their muddy 

 banks and exposed flats form favorite feeding grounds for the migrat- 

 ing " shore birds " and the Clapper Rails which nest on the marshes. 



