26 THE BIOLOGY OP HARDING COUNTY 



holds that if pines were carefully set out and protected from fire, 

 each moderately steep north-facing slope could be forested. The 

 absence of pine on Table Mountain is probably due to the lack 

 of proper lodgment for the seed here. 



The Western Red Cedar (Juniperus) forms thickets on some 

 of the slopes in this general area though to no great extent in 

 Harding County. There are cedar thickets in the forest reserve 

 of the East Short Pines; also in "brakes" or badlands along the 

 Little Missouri river, near the southern edge of North Dakota. 

 The most extensive thickets are in some of the gulches on the 

 divide south of the Moreau river in southern Perkins County. 

 Short sighted indeed was the policy that permitted the destruction 

 of these valuable groves while the land was still owned by the 

 government. However, quarter sections for miles about are well 

 . fenced. 



A third tree found about buttes is the quaking aspen 

 (Populus.) Thickets are numerous on the talus slopes at the 

 foot of cliffs especially north or east facing cliffs. 



Among the shrubs the more abundant are the dwarf and 

 creeping junipers (Juniperus), skunk bush (Rhus) and sandcherry 

 (Prunus). The chief grass is the bunch grass (Andropogon). 

 The Spanish bayonet (Yucca) is common, as are also various 

 "locos" (Aragallus and Astragalus). Other plants are Sieversia, 

 Gilia, Phacelia Phlox, Cerastium, Northern bedstraw (Galium), 

 small sage (Artemesia), blue-bell or hare-bell (Campanula), 

 Ereogonium, Antenaria, Potentilla, Yarrow (Achillea) and the 

 fern Woodsia. 



The grassy portions of the tables are covered with the plants 

 of the plain, but the growth is more dense ; in fact the tables are 

 quite extensively mowed for hay. 



The birds most often seen about the buttes in the pine woods 

 are Hairy Woodpecker, Sharp-tailed Grouse, Pinyon Jay, White- 

 winged Junco, Arctic Towhee, Western Tanager, Cedar Waxwing, 

 Andubon's Warbler, Western House Wren, Long-tailed Chickadee, 

 Western Robin and Mountain Bluebird. Several others nest about 

 the cliffs, including Prairie Falcon, Western Redtailed Hawk, 

 Golden Eagle, Western Horned Owl, Say's Phoebe, Rock Wren 

 and White-Throated Swift, Turkey Buzzards roost in the pines. 

 I have seen as many as twenty in one tree in the Slim Buttes. 



