Relation of Summer Birds to Western Adirondack Forest 411 



fall directly into two classes, those furnished with suitable breed- 

 ing conditions and those supplied with well provisioned halting- 

 places during migration." Among the species that found breeding 

 places favored by the Burn, he mentions Woodpeckers, the Tree 

 Swallow, Chimney Swift and Bluebird. Of the other breeding birds 

 he says (I.e., p. 77): "To them the fire provided a long, new 

 area of open land, much of which has since been covered to a greater 

 or less degree with weeds and grasses. This permitted the birds to 

 enter a region previously excluded from their range." 



In its present aspect the Burn is dominated by aspens, fire 

 cherry, birches, maples and willows, all in shrub or sapling stage 

 and scattered in clumps over the area, with blackberry, raspberry, 

 blueberry and tree seedlings forming a tangle wherever there are 

 open spaces, and furnishing fruit and insect food in abundance 

 (figures 131 and 132). As a further asset of this particular burn, 

 there is plenty of water, as small rills trickle under humus-covered 

 logs and rocks, forming shaded drinking and bathing places (figure 

 133). Among the birds frequenting the Burn, for nesting or 

 foraging, are the Bluebird, Robin, Olive-backed Thrush, Chickadee, 

 White-breasted Nuthatch, Winter Wren, House Wren, Catbird, 

 Redstart, Canada Warbler, Maryland Yellow-throat, the Mourning, 

 Chestnut-sided and Nashville Warblers, Cedar Waxwing, Scarlet 

 Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Song and White-throated Spar- 

 rows, Goldfinch, Purple Finch, Blue Jay, the Least, Olive-sided 

 and Crested Flycatchers, Kingbird, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, 

 Flicker, Sapsucker, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, Broad-winged 

 Hawk and Canada Ruffed Grouse. Overhead, Chimney Swifts, 

 Bank Swallows and Tree Swallows pursue their insect prey. Some 

 of the typical birds of the Burn are illustrated in plate 31. 



5. The Dry Grass Meadow. Sucker Brook, coming in from the 

 east, constitutes an important secondary influence upon the bird life 

 about Barber Point. About a half-mile up the brook is a level, 

 dry meadow lying between the Burn and the brook, forming a 

 special bird habitat about half a mile long and about ten rods wide 

 (figure 134). Stumps here and there mark the site where timber 

 had been removed in lumbering days (figure 135), and charred logs 

 tell the usual tale of fire following the logging season. After the 

 fire in 1908, owing to soil and moisture conditions, this tract be- 

 came an open meadow. In 191 5. to save the remainder of the neigh- 

 borhood from threatened fire, this meadow was backfired, hence its 

 aspect in 1916 represents but one season's growth. It is covered 

 as a whole with coarse grass growing waist high, chiefly Calama- 

 grostis, interspersed with which are berry bushes, occasional clumps 

 of blue flag {Iris versicolor) , and groups of speckled alder (Abuts 

 incana), willows, aspens and others encroaching from the contig- 

 uous Burn. It thus appears that this meadow is passing into the 

 shrub stage, the result of seeding in from the alder-birch-aspen 

 association on one side, and from the alders along the brook 

 on the other. Additional evidence of reforestation is seen in the 

 young conifers spreading into the open area. Here and there stand 



