Reproduction of Forests in British North A?nerica. 169 



Lastly, YV hen the ground is permanently occupied for agri- 

 cultural purposes, the reproduction of the forest is of course 

 entirely prevented. In this case, the greater number of the 

 smaller plants found in the barrens disappear. Some species of 

 the Solidago and Aster, and the Canada thistle, as well as a few 

 smaller plants, remain in the fields, and sometimes become 

 troublesome weeds. The most injurious weeds found in the cul- 

 tivated ground, are not, however, native plants, but foreign spe- 

 cies, which have been introduced with the cultivated grains and 

 grasses ; the ox-eyed daisy or white weed, and the crowsfoct or 

 buttercup, are two of the most abundant of these. 



When a district has undei^ 

 sombre woods and the shade-loving plants that grow beneath 

 them, have given place to open fields, clothed with cultivated 

 plants, the metamorphosis which has taken place extends in its 

 effects to the indigenous animals; and in this department, its 

 effects are nearly as conspicuous and important as in relation to 

 vegetation. Some wild animals are incapable of accommodating 

 themselves to the change of circumstances ; others at once adapt 

 themselves to new modes of life, and increase greatly in numbers. 

 It was before stated that the barrens, when clothed with shrubs, 

 young trees, and herbaceous plants, were in a condition highly 

 favorable to the support of wild animals ; and perhaps there are 

 few species which could not subsist more easily in a country at 

 least partially in this state. For this reason, the transition of a 

 country from the forest state to that of burned barrens is tem- 

 porarily favorable to many species, which disappear before the 

 progress of cultivation ; and this would be more evident than it 

 ls > it European colonization did not tend to produce a more de- 

 structive warfare against such species than could be carried on by 

 the Aborigines. The ruffed grouse, a truly woodland bird, be- 

 comes, when unmolested, more numerous on the margins of bar- 

 re *)s and clearings than in other parts of the woods. The hare 

 mnltiplies exceedingly in young second growths of birch. The 

 Wl W pigeon has its favorite resort in the barrens during a great 

 g f t of the summer. The moose and cariboo, in summer, find 

 ^Jter supplies of food in second growth and barrens than m the 

 °W forests. The large quantities of decaying wood, left by fires 

 JJM Woodcutters, afford more abundant means o( subsistence to 

 ? e trit >e of woodpeckers. Many of the fly-catchers, warblers, 

 bushes, and sparrows, greatly prefer the barrens to most other 

 5!^ eS * . Carn ivorous birds and quadrupeds are found in such 



imbers proportioned to the supplies of food which 



number 



* — m manner 



tf *y afford. The _„ ^ 



greased to a great extent if necessary : enough has, however, been 



^ to m ustrate the fact> 



" £C0 * D Series, Vol, IV, No. 11— Sept., 1S47. 22 



