SURVEY OF THE ZOOLOGY OF NORTH AMERICA. 77 



The same wild fowl which hatch their young among the ice- 

 surrounded cliffs of Northern Greenland are found sporting in 

 the lakes of Central America ; while some of the smallest of the 

 feathered tribes, the gem-like humming-birds, have been seen 

 flitting through the damp mists of Tierra del Fuego, sipping 

 the sweets of Alpine flowers high up amid lofty peaks of the 

 Andes, and appearing on the hill-sides in sight of Lake 

 Winnepeg, on the north of Rupert's Land. 



However, as we proceed in our survey, we shall be able to 

 note such, and many other interesting facts connected with 

 the zoology of the districts we visit. 



We shall find in the northern portion of the continent, 

 extending nearly as far south as the sixtieth degree of latitude, 

 and even beyond that parallel, several animals which are iden- 

 tical with those inhabiting the same latitudes in Europe and 

 Asia. The Polar or white bear, the sovereign of the Arctic 

 world, ranges entirely round the Circle ; and makes his way 

 across the icy seas over the rugged snow-clothed rocks, so that 

 he belongs as much to Europe and Asia as to America. The 

 cunning wolverene, the ermine, the pine marten, the Arctic fox 

 and common weasel, also inhabit the same latitudes of the three 

 continents. Among the herbivorous quadrupeds, there are 

 several which have made their way across the frozen ocean. 

 The American elk, though called the moose,} is identical with 

 ^the same animal found in Asia and Europe ; so is the reindeer, 

 f^known here as the caribooj Both, indeed, are Arctic animals, 

 though they migrate to southern latitudes when the severer 

 cold and depth of snow prevents them from obtaining the moss 

 and lichens on which they feed. The little Polar hare ranges 

 round the Arctic Circle ; but there is one animal, the musk-ox, 

 which, being truly an Arctic quadruped, is unknown either 



