148 BIRDS OF MAINE. 



All of extreme northern North America is within the Arctic 

 Realm, south of this comes the North Temperate which extends 

 quite to the southern boundary of the United States, except in 

 Florida and Texas where the American Tropical Realm enters their 

 extreme southern portions. 



Owing to lack of space. I will not enter into a discussion of the 

 minor life areas except such as concern Maine directly. Any one 

 who may wish to enter into a thorough investigation of this sub- 

 ject will find interesting articles on it as follows : The Geograph- 

 ical Distribution of North American Mammals, J. A. Allen, Bull. 

 Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. 4, pp. 199-243. The Geogr. and Geol. 

 Distribution of North American Animals. The Origin and Distri- 

 bution of North American Birds, J. A. Allen, The Auk, Vol. 10, 

 pp. 99-150. Various reports of the U. S. Department of Agri- 

 culture, Division of Ornithology and Mammology, contain inter- 

 esting articles by Dr. Merriam who is well known as an authority 

 on this subject. 



The North Temperate Realm is divided into regions of which the 

 North American Temperate Region alone concerns us. This in 

 turn is divided into two subregions, the Cold Temperate and the 

 Warm Temperate. The Cold Temperate Subregion is divided into 

 four faunae of which one, the Canadian, enters Maine. We have 

 here one of our faunae traced from its fountain head down through 

 the classification. 



The Warm Temperate is divided into two provinces, a Humid or 

 Eastern Province and an Arid or Western Province. The Humid 

 Province is divided into the Appalachian and Austroriparian Sub- 

 provinces, the former of which concerns us. This is divided into 

 three faunae, the northern of which is named the Alleghaniau, and 

 which enters our state in the southwestern part. We have then 

 the Cold Temperate and Warm Temperate Subregions, as repre- 

 sented by the Canadian and Alleghanian Faunae, meeting in our 

 state. Under such condition one would expect to find a very inter- 

 esting commingling of the species common to each, and such is the 

 case. 



In mapping out the Canadian Fauna I have used various char- 

 acteristic trees, birds and annimals, as aids in determining its 

 southern limits. The forests of fir and spruce, indicate that the 

 regions where they predominate are Canadian in character. The 





