4G Some Account of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, 



mountains. There are , also plants of such versatility of consti- 

 tution, that they bear all tlie varieties of climate from Hudson's 

 Bay to Virginia and Carolina. Such plants may well be common 

 to the two continents. 



Animals. 



The unsettled state of the country for some distance around 

 these mountains, tiie many recesses and solitudes which they 

 possess, that are rarely visited by man, h;is rendered them still 

 a resort for many of the original animals of the continent, whose 

 species have nearly disappeared from the more inhabited parts. 

 The moose {Cervus a Ices P) still resides here; and we were told 

 tliat upon the Pliny mountains, about twenty miles to the N. W. 

 «)me of these animals are killed in the course of every winter. 

 TIic bear {Ursus America:ms) iidiabits the woods about the base 

 and sides of the mountain, where he is not unfrequently met 

 with*. The wolves {Canis Lupus) being gregarious, move in 

 troops, and are said to visit this part of the country once in three 

 or four years. Several of them were killed last winter in Eaton, 

 a town adjoining the mountaiiis. The wolverene {Ursus luscu.i), 

 raccoon [Urs7iS Lotor), porcuj)ine {Hi/strix donnta) and sable, 

 the two latter in considerable ntunhers, are found in various parts 

 of the forests. The wild cat {Felis raontana ?) is occasionally 

 killed here. The catamount { Fells coiicolur s. Cougtmr) is at 

 the present day seldom heard of. 



Of birds wc saw Lut few. Most of our migratory land birds, 

 choobiiig to share with man the fruits of his cultivation, are more 

 frequently found about the abodes of civilization than in the so- 

 litude of the forest. In Eretton woods several woodpeckers were 

 shot by our party, all of them very beautiful species ; and among 

 the rest Picus tndnctyhis, remarkably distinguished from the 

 rest of his family by the number of his toes. The partridge {Te- 

 irao Umlcdlus) we frequently scared. This bird, as well as 

 a species of plover or of Ti'cnga, has been see;i in the upper or 

 bald part of the mountain. 



We were told by the people in Bartlett and Conway, that the 

 rattlesnake [Crola/jis horridus) infests the rocks and sides of the 

 hills in great numbers, and that twenty of these reptiles had 

 been killed in a day. They even approach dwelling-houses, at 

 the doors of which they have been killed. The iidiabitants re- 

 gard them with liltle apprehension, since they are represented 

 as slow and clumsy in their motions, and as alwavs giving notice 

 on being approached, by a loud and long-continued rattle, re- 

 sembling very much the singing of a locust. We saw none of 



* Our };iii(Ic intbrmcd us that one had been in his inclosurcs the week 

 prcccdiDg our visit. 



these 



J 



