No. 4.] NATURE'S FORESTERS. 291 



trees which are springing up to take their place. An army 

 of insects attacks the remaining trees, defoliating them and 

 letting in the light and heat of the burning summer suu. 

 This still further stimulates the growth of the young trees, 

 which are coming up partly shaded by the trunks and limbs 

 of the forest giants ; but its fierce rays only serve to weaken 

 the old trees, as they stand naked under the cloudless sky. 

 The sap pauses in its flow, and they are now in a condition 

 to invite attacks from the bark beetles (Scolylidce). A host 

 of these appear, boring into the inner bark, where they cut 

 their channels through the liber and cambium and along the 

 surface of the wood beneath. The diseased trees are now 

 doomed. Helpless, they are attacked by a host of borers 

 and other wood-eating insects. Death from a thousand 

 wounds ensues. The insects channel, cut and powder the 

 substance of the trees, wood-rot attacks the trunks, limbs 

 fall and tops crash down. Some night a great wind comes 

 down through a mountain gap and rushes through the forest. 

 Giant trunks are uprooted and thrown against others still 

 standing, shattering all. Great trees tottering to their fall 

 crash against others already fallen. Bending w T ith mighty 

 groan they break short ott* or are uprooted with a fearful 

 crash, and their tops sweep through the air with a moaning 

 shriek, which is lost in the thunder of their fall. Down they 

 go like a row of blocks before the awful wind. Their down- 

 fall shakes the earth, the fowls of the air hide their heads in 

 fright, the beasts of the forest crouch closer in their dens or 

 slink away in terror. When morning comes the old forest 

 is no more, but in its place a tangled windfall lies, where 

 one can walk for miles on fallen trunks without touching 

 foot to the ground. Amid this mass of trunks the bear will 

 find his den. Here he will tear away the decaying bark 

 with his claws to get at the ants burrowing beneath. Here 

 the swilal berries and the salmon berries will grow and the 

 skunk cabbage will flourish in the swales. Here is good 

 food for the bear. The bear is not only a forest planter but 

 also an agent of destruction to the ruined forest and a culti- 

 vator of the soil for the new growth. In this work the wild 

 hog, fox, marmot, elk and other animals have a share. Here 

 also is the home of the woodpeckers, for they have now a 



