LIFE ZONES AND BIRD DISTRIBUTION 11 



Warbling Vireo, Scarlet Tanager, Song Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, 

 Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Least Flycatcher, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied 

 Sapsucker, and Ruffed Grouse. 



The following birds enter the Alleghanian Zone from the Carolinian, but do not 

 extend beyond it into the Canadian: Carolina Wren, Carolina Chickadee, Worm- 

 eating Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Louisiana Water-thrush, Hooded Warbler, 

 Southern Downy Woodpecker, and Southern Hairy Woodpecker. 



The Carolinian or Upper Austral Zone. This zone occupies the mountain 

 valleys below about 2,500 feet of elevation, and the greater part of the central region 

 of the State, its eastern and southeastern limit being roughly a line drawn from 

 Weldon to Raleigh, thence to Charlotte and on to Tryon in Polk County. 



The birds that enter this zone from the Lower Austral, but do not extend beyond 

 it into the Alleghanian, are: Brown-headed Nuthatch, Mockingbird, Yellow- 

 throated Warbler, Pine Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Summer Tanager, Bachman's 

 Sparrow, Blue Grosbeak, Orchard Oriole, and Black Vulture. 



The following birds do not range below it into the Lower Austral, though they 

 do range upward into the Alleghanian: Yellow Warbler, Redstart, Goldfinch, and 

 Whip-poor-will. 



Lower Austral or Austro -riparian Zone is perhaps the most sharply dis- 

 tinguished of the zones in this State, and as regards birds it divides naturally into a 

 coastal strip and an inland portion. Its upper limit is formed by the lower boun- 

 dary of the Upper Austral denned above. Few land birds occur in the whole of 

 this region that do not also enter the Carolinian Zone above, several birds usually 

 considered as typically Lower Austral, such as the Bachman's Sparrow, Blue 

 Grosbeak, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Black Vulture, and Yellow-throated Warbler, 

 ranging in this State also throughout the Carolinian Zone. The most characteristic 

 land birds of this zone are the Chuck-wills-widow, Nonpareil, Swainson's Warbler, 

 Prothonotary Warbler, and Red-cockaded Woodpecker. 



Typical aquatic and salt-marsh summer birds that characterize the coastal region 

 of this zone are Marian's Marsh Wren, Boat-tailed Grackle, Fish Crow, Osprey, 

 Oystercatcher, Piping Plover, Willet, Clapper Rail, Louisiana Heron, Egret, Snowy 

 Egret, Little Blue Heron, Water Turkey, Florida Cormorant, and Black Skimmer. 



In general, these life zones correspond to a considerable extent with the natural 

 divisions of the State, the Lower Austral covering the coastal plain and the pine 

 barrens, the upper Austral the Piedmont plateau, and the Alleghanian and Cana- 

 dian the mountain regions. 



There are no sharply marked divisions between these zones; they gradually pass 

 into one another and, similarly, the birds named as being characteristic of them 

 are by no means all equally so; for instance, the Nonpareil is confined to the 

 southeastern corner of the State and the immediate neighborhood of the ocean. 

 A noticeable peculiarity in reference to the distribution of a few species is that, 

 probably owing to the humidity of the coastal region, they are found breeding near 

 the coast, and also in the mountains, but not in the intervening territory. Examples 

 of these are the Black-throated Green Warbler, Song Sparrow, and Barn Swallow. 



