Batchelder on Birds of the Upper St. John. 107 



rapid streams and brooks draining directly into the river. There 

 are no lakes or ponds, except a few insignificant puddles, although 

 there are occasional cedar swamps and "barrens." The tribu- 

 tary streams below the falls have cut narrow steeply walled 

 ravines in their passage to the river. These were cold and damp, 

 and apparently without birds. 



In some places forests of hard woods exist, tall maples, elms 

 and birches that have no doubt stood there for ages. There 

 is but little underbrush in these woods, and they have a rather 

 park-like aspect. The second growth and the woods on the low 

 lands along the river consist of firs, spruces and hemlocks of 

 all sizes, and often have an almost impenetrable underbrush. 

 Where fires have spread large tracts are stripped of their' woods, 

 and are covered with fallen trunks overgrown with vines, with 

 here and there tall dead "stubs" still standing. 



Mr. W. A. Jeffries' observations extended from May 21 to June 

 19. He was joined by his brother on the 9th of June. During 

 the ten days following this latter date the weather was cold — 

 there was a frost June 15, and rain fell every day except the 9th 

 and the 15th. 



Fort Fairfield is twenty miles south, of Grand Falls. It is 

 situated on the Aroostook River, about five miles in an air line 

 west of its junction with the St. John. It is in a rolling 

 country containing but few ponds and swamps, and watered 

 merely by small brooks which empty into the Aroostook River. 

 The river itself is broad, with a rapid current, and flows between 

 banks which though not very high, are yet never swampy. Much 

 of the original forest has been removed, especially in the neigh- 

 borhood of the town and along the river, where the stretches of 

 wooded land are interspersed with clearings, pastures and cul- 

 tivated fields, large crops of buckwheat and potatoes being raised 

 on the fertile soil. The woods are mostly evergreen — the several 

 species of ^(5/<?5 and the arbor vitae — intermingled, of course, 

 with a few yellow birches and an occasional maple, but few tracts 

 being wholly covered by deciduous trees. 



Our collecting was done mostly within two or three miles of 

 the town. Our notes were made between June 14 and July i. 

 On our arrival we foimd the trees by no means in full leaf, and 

 were told that the season was very backward, and had been very 

 wet. Heavy frosts occurred on the 15th and 19th of the month. 



