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distributed over much the same territory 

 as the cottontail rabbit although it has 

 not yet spread quite as far north or east 

 as that species. The Virginia deer 

 (Odocoileus virginianus borealis) for- 

 merly occupied this whole area but has 

 long been exterminated except where 

 given sanctuary protection as in 

 Rondeau Park and in a few isolated 

 areas unsuitable for agriculture. The 

 elk (Cervus canadensis] inhabited the 

 extreme southwestern part of this area 

 originally, although it is perhaps one 

 hundred and fifty years since this deer 

 occurred wild in Ontario. The bob-cat 

 (Lynx r. rufus} is now nearly, if not 

 quite extinct in the province ; it formerly 

 occurred in the more southern parts 

 of this area. Some typical birds of the 

 region are bob-white, mourning dove, 

 yellow- and black-billed cuckoos, bobo- 

 link, meadow-lark, Baltimore oriole, 

 towhee, catbird and wood thrush. 

 The extreme southwestern portion of the 

 province, especially a strip along Lake 

 Erie is often considered as belonging 

 to the Carolinian Zone of Merriam. 

 Rondeau Park has been set aside to 

 preserve the original forest which still 

 stands there. Of the birds we have in 

 this small area a few species of distinctly 

 southern aspect, including the yellow- 

 breasted chat, mockingbird, Carolina 

 wren, cardinal, red-bellied woodpecker, 

 orchard oriole and barn owl. The wild 

 turkey was an original inhabitant of 

 this zone. 



2. Coniferous forest 



The vast area north of the Great Lakes 

 and of a line extending along the French 

 River, through Lake Nipissing west to 

 the Ottawa River, is usually called 

 northern Ontario, and it represents for 

 the most part the present commercial 

 forest area of the province. 



a. Plants. North of the French 

 River-Lake Nipissing line to the height 

 of land the forest becomes more pre- 

 vailingly coniferous, with spruce and 

 balsam fir growing in importance. To be 

 sure, there are scattered patches of 

 beech, maple and yellow birch in pure 



stand or in mixture on the northern 

 slopes of hills or in protected valleys 

 nearly or quite to the James Bay-St. 

 Lawrence water parting, but north of 

 these points the trees are of inferior or 

 stunted growth. White and red pine 

 are found in commercial stands to the 

 height of land, especially to the west- 

 ward. Such stands at their northern 

 limit and varying in age from 150 to 250 

 years can be seen in the Timagami 

 Forest Reserve within a short distance 

 from the Timagami railway station. 

 While there are frequent jack pine 

 stands in the northern portion of south- 

 ern Ontario, the outcrops of gravelly 

 sand plains are more extensive in north- 

 ern Ontario and consequently such 

 stands form a large portion of the forest. 



The prevailing broad-leaved species 

 in northern Ontario are poplar (P. 

 tremuloides and P. balsamifera} and 

 paper birch. Their distribution has 

 been greatly extended through the 

 agency of forest fires, but these species 

 are undoubtedly subordinate but con- 

 stant components of the climax forest. 

 Paper birch apparently outnumbers 

 the poplar until the height of land is 

 reached. They occur on the heavier 

 and better drained soils. 



It is probable that the greater portion 

 of the area now under review, that is 

 from the French River-Lake Nipissing 

 line to the height of land, was originally 

 occupied by mixed associations, chiefly 

 spruce, balsam fir, white pine and paper 

 birch, with the conifers predominating. 

 One is impressed with the numerical 

 abundance of balsam fir in the under- 

 story, but it enters only sparsely into the 

 dominant crown cover. 



The southern portion of the James 

 Bay drainage area is deeply covered with 

 stratified and unstratified glacial de- 

 posits, the greater portion of which is 

 silt loam and clay, so it is popularly 

 designated as the Clay Belt. It 

 stretches in Ontario from the Quebec 

 boundary westward to near Lake Nipi- 

 gon. In the eastern portion, it begins 

 with the water parting, but at its west- 

 ern limit the southern border is about 



