VoKXXn Y.IFR1G, Birds of Western Maryland. 235 



hills and mountains from about 1500 feet upwards, except some 

 southern mountain sides, and about all of Garrett County, are in 

 the Alleghanian division of the Transition zone, characterized by 

 an intermingling and overlapping of northern and southern types 

 of the fauna and flora. The tops of the highest mountains, those 

 in the neighborhood of 3000 feet, contain a strong admixture of 

 high Transition and even Boreal species. This is especially evi- 

 dent in the sphagnum, alder, and cranberry swamps on the tops 

 of some of these mountains and in the small depressions between 

 them, e. g., in the one between the Big and Little Savage Moun- 

 tains, near Finzel, Garrett County, or the one on top of Negro 

 Mountain near Accident, at both of which places I have fre- 

 quently been. There are also some dark, virgin tracts of fine 

 tall spruce and hemlock here, soon to be desecrated by the ax, 

 where Boreal conditions of fauna and flora exist. In such places 

 may be found, of birds, the Carohna Snowbird {/unco hyemalis 

 carolinensis). Blue-headed Vireo (Vireo soHfarius), Magnolia War- 

 bler {Dendroka tnaculosa), Canadian Warbler ( Wiisonia cana- 

 densis), Red-breasted Nuthatch {Sitta canadensis), and the Hermit 

 Thrush {Hylocichla guttata pallasii) ; of mammals, the Redbacked 

 Mouse {^Evotomys gapperi),(Z2xy2.d\2LX\. White-footed Mouse {Pero- 

 my sens ca?iade?isis), and Varying Hare {Lepiis americanus virgini- 

 anus)\ of trees and other plants, the tamarack {Larix lariciana), 

 black spruce {Picea mariana)^ golden club {Orontium aqiiaticufn), 

 cranberry {Vaccinium macrocarpon), wild calla {Calla palustris), 

 gentian {Getitiana angustifolia), etc.^ 



Thus, while it may in general be said, that the fauna of Alle- 

 gany County is a mixture of Carolinian and Transition, and that 

 of Garrett County Transition, high Transition, and even Boreal, yet 

 these zones and areas overlap, intergrade, and run into each other 

 in a most surprising and very interesting way. Tongues of Caro- 

 linian fauna and flora run into the Transition and Boreal belts, 



' For some of these statements, notably for those on mammals, I am 

 partly indebted to an excellent paper in the Maryland Geological Survey 

 Report on Allegany County, entitled: 'The Fauna and Flora,' etc., 'The 

 Summer Birds of Western Maryland,' by C. Hart Merriam and Edward A. 

 Preble. 



