Bkknei.l on Hylocichla aliciie 5/ckncIle. 1 53 



while a sharp wind from the northwest piercing tlie wet woods 

 and sighing among the balsams, blasted and weather beaten, 

 heightened an impression of remoteness and desolation. The 

 evergreens, constituting the principal arboreal growth, extended 

 ofl'on all sides, clothing the rocky and moss-grown slopes, and 

 presenting the striking contrast of a young and fragrant second 

 growth clustering about the branchless and spiny trunks of their 

 sires tottering in decay : or. with tangled and matted branches 

 outlined here antl there, as we approached the summit, against a 

 gray and cheerless sky. Owing to the comparatively short life 

 of these trees, that high portion of the mountain where their tribe 

 had pitched was brought into grim contrast with its surroundings. 

 Old age and deatli, continualh present invading their i-anks, 

 had everywhere left their traces ; flourishing clusters had been 

 stricken in their fellowship, groups and gatherings had been 

 divided and scattered, and like a contagion the destrover had 

 spread among their hosts. But the younger generations are con- 

 tinually forming their associations, and with green and fragrant 

 grouping fllling in deserted chambers and screening the devasta- 

 tion that has gone before, although onlv to furnish material for 

 its continuance in the future. All this, with an occasional under- 

 growth of greater or less luxuriance, gave a diversified and some- 

 what open character to the surroundings, entirely dissimilar to 

 that of the environing forest ; conditions, wdiich, in conjunction 

 with humiditx and elevation, have brouglit this mountain top 

 into some relation witli the swampland of a more northern region. 

 Reaching a more elevated portion of the ridge where the ground 

 was more level and the surface less rock\ , that north- woods tree, 

 the Paper Birch {Bet/ila papvracea) occasionally appeared, and 

 more abundantlv the Mountain Ash. Almost the only remnant 

 of the dense mountain forests below was the Yellow Birch {I3e- 

 tula Iiitea) which, joining the undergrowth, persisted with small 

 and stunted stature to the summit. On all sides were to be seen 

 the white blossoms of \ihur)n())i /a}itai/oidcs wh\c\\, though also 

 found in the \'allev woodlands, had there long since flowered and 

 was now bearing green fruit. Another characteristic shrub was 

 AmelancJiicr cai/ade?/s/.s oligocarpa ; lower down had been 

 found the var. botrvapiian, but here, the northern form was well 

 marked, seeming almost specifically distinct. In the deep, damp 

 moss, co\ering and filling in the rocks beneath the balsam growth. 



