RELATION OF SUMMER BIRDS TO THE WESTERN 

 ADIRONDACK FOREST 



By Perley M. Silloway 



CONTENTS 

 i. Introduction. 



2. The Western Adirondack Forest Environment. 



3. Habitat Preferences of Forest Birds near Cranberry Lake. 



4. Influence of Certain Forest Trees on Bird Life. 



5. Enemies of Adirondack Birds. 



6. A Census of the Birds at Cranberry Lake. 



7. A List, with Notes, of the Summer Birds about Cranberry 



Lake. 



8. List of References. 



9. Index. 



INTRODUCTION 



The general purpose of the studies chronicled in these pages was 

 to examine the interrelations between birds and the forest, that 

 is, how the one influences the other, along the western border of the 

 Adirondack Mountains. The scene of the investigation was at the 

 permanent summer camp of the State College of Forestry at Barber 

 Point on the south shore of Cranberry Lake, where the author 

 spent the midsummer weeks in 19 16. Two general aims were thus 

 combined, — to gain a knowledge of the character of the local summer 

 bird life, and to make a survey of its environment. The neighbor- 

 hood of Barber Point was scanned carefully to distinguish local 

 factors, or " minor habitats," and the birds of each minor habitat 

 were studied as a definite group of tenants, technically styled " avian 

 association;" and both the number of species and the number of 

 pairs breeding in each minor habitat, the sum of which measured the 

 bird population of the district covered, were counted as closely as 

 possible. A census properly made shows the standing of a district, 

 in its ability to support birds, as compared with other districts, and 

 is a basis for judging the value of the environment in any given 

 case. Great difficulties were met with at this wilderness station 

 in daily attempts to make a census ; but I regard the result as fairly 

 indicative of the quantity of bird life there, and also of the ecological 

 preferences — that is, preferences as to surroundings — of the species 

 in each association. 



The general aspects of the forest in the western Adirondacks, 

 where it is a uniform mixture of conifers and hardwood trees, with 

 close undergrowth, are here first described in their relation to sum- 

 mer birds ; and examples are given of how the minor habitats men- 

 tioned above naturally evolve, with the reasons why it is well to study 



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