268 



FIRST YEAR SCIENCE 



watered part of the country, plants are abundant and 

 varied, ranging from the subtropical palms of the Gulf 

 coast to the semi-arctic types of the northern border. 



123. Fauna of the United States. As the wide treeless 

 plains and prairies of the central part of the country con- 

 tained few coverts for skulking animals of prey, they were 

 admirably adapted to the wants of gregarious grazing 

 animals. Here were found the countless herds of ante- 

 lopes and buffaloes which in the early days of transcon- 

 tinental travel swarmed over the territory crossed by the 

 railroads and not infrequently forced the trains to stop 

 and wait until they had crossed the track. To-day they 

 are almost exterminated. 



The forests of the northern regions with their grassy 

 glades and meadows, once the home of great herds of 



caribou and great numbers of 

 moose, have too frequently re- 

 sounded to the sound of ax and 

 gun still to contain many of 

 these noble creatures. 



Among the mountains with 

 their rough surfaces and rugged 

 fastnesses the black, brown, 

 and grizzly bear once roamed 

 supreme, but now they find 

 security only in the most inac- 

 cessible places. Wolves once 

 skulked in bands far and wide 

 over almost the entire country, 

 ready to pull down and devour 

 weaker animals, but now both they and their prey have 

 almost vanished. 



The fur-bearing animals which inhabited the streams 

 and dales and whose valuable pelts tempted the early 



COYOTE. 



The prairie wolf of the western 

 plains. 



