NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



271 



throated sparrow, slate colored junco, 

 Bohemian waxwing, Philadelphia vireo, 

 blue-headed vireo, northern parula war- 

 bler, Tennessee warbler, pine warbler, 

 myrtle warbler, mourning warbler, 

 magnolia warbler, black-throated blue 

 warbler, Blackburnian warbler, palm 

 warbler, Grinnell's water-thrush, Con- 

 necticut warbler, Wilson's warbler, 

 Canada warbler, Louisiana water- 

 thrush, olive-backed thrush, hermit 

 thrush, winter wren, brown creeper, 

 red-breasted nuthatch, Hudsonian 

 chickadee, and golden-crowned kinglet. 



A considerable number of animal 

 species were not so strictly confined to 

 the Coniferous area but ranged farther 

 southward and westward into the ad- 

 joining deciduous forest formation. Of 

 these the principal ones were: elk 

 (Cervus canadensis], northern flying- 

 squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus), Min- 

 nesota red squirrel (Sciurus hudsonicus 

 minnesota) , red-backed vole (Evotomys 

 gapperi), bog-lemming (Synaptomys co- 

 open'), black bear (Ursus americanus) , 

 eastern cougar (Felis couguar), red fox 

 (Vulpes fulva), timber wolf (Cam's 

 nubilus], short-tailed weasel (Mustela 

 cicognanii), marsh shrew (Neosorex 

 palustris), Canada beaver (Castor cana- 

 densis}, and the muskrat (Ondatra 

 zibethica). 



Among the more notable fishes of this 

 region might be mentioned the fol- 

 lowing: Lake sturgeon (Acipenser rubi- 

 cundus), common whitefish (Coregonus 

 clupeiformis), lake herring (Argyroso- 

 mus artedi), tullibee (Argyrasomus tulbi- 

 bee), Great Lake trout (Cristimover 

 namaycush), brook trout (Salvelinus 

 fontinalis), muskallunge (Lucius 

 masquinonqy) . 



2. Deciduous forest. The deciduous 

 forest formation, interposed between 

 the coniferous forest and the western 

 grassland formed an almost continuous 

 belt from the southeastern to north- 

 western corner of the state except for 

 an irregular tongue of prairie extend- 

 ing from middle northern Iowa north- 

 eastward almost to the Mississippi river 

 through Freeborn, Mower, Steele, Dodge, 



Rice, Dakota and part of Goodhue coun- 

 ties. The portion of this formation 

 stretching northward from the big bend 

 of the Minnesota River as far as Otter 

 Tail County was named the "Big 

 Woods" by the early explorers and was 

 a hardwood forest of imposing propor- 

 tions. Along the 45 parallel of latitude 

 it was nearly 100 mi. in width but from 

 the 46 parallel northwestward it nar- 

 rowed down to an average width of 

 about 25 mi. with frequent deep indenta- 

 tions of the prairie formation. 



The dominant trees of this forest 

 were hard maple (Acer saccharum), 

 slippery elm (Ulmus fulva}, white elm 

 (Ulmus, americana), basswood (Tilia 

 americana), bur oak (Quercus macro- 

 car pa}, red oak (Quercus rubra) and 

 ironwood (Ostrya virginiana). Other 

 species occurring less typically were 

 coarse toothed aspen (Populus grandi- 

 dentata), black cherry (Prunus serotina'), 

 green ash, black ash, hackberry (Celtis 

 occidentalis), pignut hickory (C'arya 

 cordiformis) and butternut (Juglans 

 cinered} . 



The characteristic shrubs of this 

 formation were: prickly gooseberry 

 (Ribes Cynosbati}, Missouri gooseberry 

 (Ribes gracile}, thorn apple (Crataegus 

 punctata}, choke cherry, juneberry 

 (Amelanchier canadensis), prickly ash 

 (Xanthoxylum americanum}, stag-horn 

 sumac (Rhus typhina}, alternate-leaved 

 dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) , round- 

 leaved dogwood (Cornus circinata}, 

 black haw (Viburnum lentaga} and 

 honeysuckle (Lonicera dioica). A few 

 climbers occurred in this forest such as 

 bitter sweet (Celastrus scandens), wild 

 grapevine (Vitis vulpina), Virginia 

 creeper (Psedera quinquefolia) and 

 moonseed (Menispetrmum canadense). 



In the southeastern corner of the 

 state along the Mississippi River and 

 the lower portions of its tributaries 

 existed originally a deciduous forest of 

 very similar nature to the "Big Woods." 

 This forest, being rather sharply sepa- 

 rated from the latter by the above men- 

 tioned extension of the prairie formation 

 differed in some important respects and 



