timber-line is at approximately eleven thousand 

 five hundred feet, or a vertical mile higher than 

 it is in the Alps! 



Even the high peaks of this region have 

 touches of plant-life and are visited by birds and 

 beasts. The list of living things which I have 

 seen on the summit of Long's Peak (14,255 feet 

 above sea-level) includes the inevitable and 

 many-tinted lichens, spike-grass, dainty blue 

 polemonium, and clumps of crimson purple 

 primroses, all exquisitely beautiful. There are 

 straggling bumblebees, grasshoppers, and at 

 least two kinds of prettily robed butterflies. 

 Among the mammals visiting the summit I have 

 seen a mountain lion, a bob-cat, a rabbit, and a 

 silver fox, though only one of each. The bird 

 callers embrace flocks of rosy finches, ptarmigan, 

 and American pipits, and numbers of white- 

 crowned sparrows and j uncos, together with a 

 scattering of robins, bluebirds, golden eagles, 

 red-tailed hawks, and hummingbirds! 



The summit life zone in the Rocky Moun- 

 tains not only sweeps up to exceptionally high 

 altitudes, but it embraces vast territory. In Col- 



102 



