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SIBERIAN PICA. 



CHAPTER II 



The Animal Life of Siberia 



The Siberian tract is bounded on the north by the line of tree-growth, on the west 

 by the Ural Mountains, on the south-west by the Kirghiz steppes, and on the south 

 by the mountain-ranges extending from the Pamir Plateau in the south-west to 

 the Sea of Okhotsk and forming the north-western slope of the central Asiatic 

 highlands. The climate of this vast area, speaking generally, is very like that of the 

 Baltic area of Europe, of which indeed Siberia may be regarded as an eastern 

 extension where the original conditions have been less altered by agriculture and 

 settlement. 



The greater part of this tract is situated within the forest and pasture belts 



of the northern temperate zone, the forests being more distinctly separated into 



those of deciduous trees and those of conifers than is the case elsewhere, although 



mixed forests exist whose origin, as in Europe, may in great part be 



due to human agency. Wherever forestry has not interfered with the original 



primitive conditions, forests of pine generally occupy the colder districts, and 



,h " M ' "' deciduous trees the warmer areas, that is to say,such as are situated in the 



south and within the maritime zone. Exceptions there are, indeed, due to peculiar- 



l, "' s " t the situation or the soil. Sandy and peaty ground will, for instance, be 



overed with conifers even within the zone of deciduous trees ; while birch-forests 



"■'•">• more to the northward and at a greater elevation than pine-forests. 



1,1 comparing the Siberian fauna with that of Europe, it will be interesting to 



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