OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 51 



that often a gale is blowing at the summit, while below 7 , the air 

 is quite still. Thus at one observation, a wind of 96 miles an 

 hour was blowing at the summit of Washington, while 3,000 feet 

 below, at the depot of the Mt. Washington Railroad, there was 

 not sufficient air stirring to move the anemometer. The winds of 

 extreme velocity, however, are usually limited to the winter sea- 

 son or to periods of storm in summer. The prevailing winds 

 for the entire year are west and northwest, a fact which may 

 have some bearing on the occurrence at these summits of cer- 

 tain wind-blown insects, for a large number of species straggle 

 up from the surrounding country. Mrs. A. T. Slosson has col- 

 lected considerably over a thousand species here during a peri- 

 od of years, and has not infrequently obtained forms belonging 

 to distant parts of the country. The tendency of insects to work 

 their way up a mountain is well known. The air currents con- 

 stantly rise up the mountain sides, for which reason the woods- 

 man faces his camp up hill to avoid the smoke of his camp fire.. 

 Aided by these currents, multitudes of small insects may some- 

 times be seen streaming up from below, and converging at the 

 summits in great numbers. Thus, on one occasion, while on 

 the crest of the Carter range in mid- June, I have seen the fly- 

 ing Aphides coming up from the forest-clad country below in 

 countless numbers, wafted by the gentle upward current of air. 



Observations of rainfall for a single year on Mt. Washington's 

 summit gave 55 inches, of which 47 inches were in summer and 

 autumn. Other local conditions of this small area incident on 

 altitude and latitude make it a most interesting spot for careful 

 cecological study. 



The bird fauna of this arctic alpine region is small, and in- 

 cludes no species typical of the zone. The White-throated 

 Sparrow (ZonotricJiia albicollis} and the Slate-colored Junco 

 (Junco hy emails} are the only two birds which breed here reg- 

 ularly, and the former occurs only in a few sheltered places on 

 the lower edge of the zone, as at the Lakes of the Clouds. The 

 Junco is the only bird one may feel confident of finding even to 

 the summit of Washington in summer. A number of lowland 

 species wander up to these altitudes irregularly, however, dur- 



