502 General Notes. [(££. 



having only a square mile or more of surface. The precipitation at Cam- 

 bridge is between twenty-nine and thirty inches. 



Cambridge lies about five miles north of midway between the 45th 

 and 46th parallels of latitude. The surrounding country is gently rolling 

 and as a whole is of a sandy character. The black heavy loam which we 

 find in the southern parts of the state is here totally absent and conse- 

 quently such lovers of a fertile soil as the bloodroot and bellwort are here 

 not nearly as common. In many places we find extensive black oak barrens 

 where only black and bur oaks will grow to represent the trees but where the 

 Pasque Flower, the pioneer of early spring startles us with its beauty 

 when we pass through its haunts. The aspens, oaks, birches and red 

 maples form the bulk of the more fertile upland wooded areas, while soft 

 maples, white ashes and elms clothe the river bottomlands. Logging has 

 ceased to be a large industry although a few sawmills are still running to 

 accommodate those farmers who haul in their sled loads of logs to be sawed 

 into lumber. 



Cambridge seems to lie on the very southern edge of the Canadian 

 life area of this state. Here we find large tracts of Tamarack bogs covered 

 with a thick layer of peat-moss where the Reindeer -lichen, Labrador Tea, 

 Leather-leaf, Rosemary, Pitcher-plant and Sundews grow in profusion. 

 White Spruces grow abundantly in some places, intermingling with the 

 Tamaracks and from whose dead limbs hangs the long waving Usnea and 

 other lichens in which the Northern Parula Warbler may occasionally be 

 found nesting. The mossy mounds and old hoary stumps are covered with 

 mats of the Twin-flower and creeping Snowberry, and several species of 

 Cypripedium grow as well. These swamps are the paradise of Orchids 

 and Heaths. A grove of Balsam Firs grows in the northwest corner of the 

 county at Maple Ridge, and extensive patches of White Pine are found 

 throughout the northern half. In the larger patches the drowsy, buzzing 

 song of the Black-throated Green Warbler can be heard all through the heat 

 of midsummer. Jack Pines grow fairly commonly in some places but are 

 usually under twenty-five feet in height. The leaves of the Clintonia 

 cover the ground around the borders of the bogs. In hot sandy soil around 

 some lake shores and in the pines we find the ground matted with Bearberry 

 one of the few plants to be found growing in these situations. Wolves 

 are still quite common in the Tamarack bogs and rarely the bear is met with. 

 The Great Plains fauna is represented by the Jack Rabbit and Brewer's 

 Blackbird. 



So far as I know, very little if any study had ever been made of the avi- 

 fauna of this county before I began my observations here in 1913. These 

 were all made within a radius of seven miles of Cambridge. The following 

 list is intended to give some of the observations which may be most inter- 

 esting to other Minnesota bird students. With these explanatory para- 

 graphs they are submitted as follows : 



1. Cryptoglaux f unerea richardsoni. Richardson's Owl. — I have 

 two records in 1914 for this boreal bird. One was a female shot and brought 



