I 5 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 



upon these elevated summits, for, in the language of our State Bota- 

 nist, Mr. Charles H. Peck, " the frequent rains, the investing clouds, 

 antl the low temperature which retards evaporation, all conspire to 

 produce that prevalence of moisture which imitates the condition of 

 the marshes."''' On the open summit of Mt. Marcy (altitude 5,344 

 feet, or 1,628 metres) Mr. Peck found Cassandra calycidata. Ledum 

 latifoliiim, Kalmiaglauca, Habenaria dilatata, Veratriim viride, Ca- 

 rex irrigjia, and Calainagrostis Canadensis — all swamp plants. There 

 are no trees here to protect them from the sun, for they grow upon 

 the open suininit "above timber line " — which is about 4,800-4,900 feet 

 (1,463.04-1,493.52 metres) above tide-level. 



Many of the valleys are occupied by extensive balsam and tama- 

 rack swamps, which are always carpeted with dense mats of wet 

 Sphagnnm. into which one sinks half a foot or more and yet rarely 

 leaves a trail — so perfecth' does the spongy mass resume its former 

 shape. These places are the homes of the Spruce Grouse or Canada 

 Partridge, the Blue Yellow-backed Warbler that builds its pensile 

 nest of the gray tamarack lichen i^Usnea),thQ Canada Fly-catching 

 Warbler, and several other species. 



Most of the mountains are covered with a tolerably dense growth 

 of coniferous trees, but there are quite a number whose simimits have 

 been laid bare by tornadoes. These devastating winds every now 

 and then uncover a mountain so effectually that not only the trees and 

 undershrubs, but even the soil itself, and all life upon it, are hurled 

 together into the valley below — forming vast and lasting " windfalls " 

 to bar the path of inquisitive man. 



Fire, also, too frequently overruns and lays waste tracts of large 

 extent, that, for years afterwards, constitute marked features in the 

 make-up of the country, and exert a decided influence upon the 

 minor local distribution of life over its surface. The charred stubs 

 of the larger trees long remain as favorite haunts for several species 



* Report of AcUromlacU Survey, Albany, iSSo, pp. 405-6. 



