headlands of the St. Elias Range, is covered with forests, valley- 

 swamps and mountain-meadows, which reach far higher on the sea- 

 ward front than on the interior slopes of the ranges. The woods are 

 mainly of evergreen trees, and toward the south they grow to an 

 astonishing height; but in the more open places are to be found many 

 kinds of deciduous trees, berry-bearing shrubs, and a rich flora of 

 flowering plants and mosses. The country is frequented by mammals 

 in large variety, from bears to mice, and the rivers and inlets abound 

 in fish. Considering this warm and humid climate, often really hot 

 in summer, and the plenitude of food, it is not surprising to learn 

 that birds are numerous here, embracing, in fact, if migrants are 

 included, nearly the whole avifauna of Alaska. 



The warmly moist climate of this coast has the effect of intensi- 

 fying and making darker the colors of the fur of mammals and the 

 plumage of the birds and butterflies that spend their summers there. 

 "Pale browns," Nelson observes, "become rich rufous, or rusty red, 

 and grays become dark brown, with corresponding changes in other 

 colors." Hence a large number of the birds of this district are distin- 

 guished by varietal names. 



South-Coast Water-Birds 



Beginning, as is customary, at the foot of the scale of organiza- 

 tion, the first birds to be mentioned are the grebes, of which two 

 species may be met with in this district the red-necked and the 

 horned. Grebes, or divers, are water-birds with the general appear- 

 ance of ducks, but their bills are small and narrow, and their feet, 

 instead of being fully webbed, have the toes flattened and broadened 

 into paddles. The legs are set so far back that it is difficult for grebes 

 to walk upon land, but they are among the most expert of swimmers 

 and divers, and often, when trying to avoid observation, will quietly 

 submerge the whole body, leaving only the inconspicuous head out 

 of water. They feed chiefly on fish and small aquatic creatures, but 

 also nibble at succulent plants. Their nests are mere rafts of reed- 

 stalks, usually afloat among the rushes of some inland pond, and the 

 few greenish-white eggs lie in a sodden bed. 



Loons are near relatives of the grebes, but are larger, and more 

 strongly marked in dark colors checkered with white ; they feed on 

 fish and lay two eggs in a slight hollow on the bank of a river or lake. 

 Three species come here: the common great northern diver, the red- 

 throated diver, and the Pacific loon. 



10 



