Relation of Summer Birds to Western Adirondack Forest 415 



Magnolia Warblers, Blue-headed Vireo, Cedar Waxwing, Lincoln's 

 and White-throated Sparrows, Purple Finch, Blue Jay, the Alder, 

 Yellow-bellied and Olive-sided Flycatchers, and the Arctic Three- 

 toed, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers (plate 32). 



7. The Virgin Forest. Continuing eastward from the Camp up 

 Sucker Brook, we reach a beginning of the heavy forest, which ex- 

 tends for several miles onward and includes the neighborhood of 

 Curtis Pond, Irish Pond and Dog Pond, making an area of wood- 

 land as nearly original in its character as can be found in the 

 western Adirondack region. This large timber begins about a mile 

 from Camp and affords opportunity for comparisons of three sec- 

 ondary influences in the preferences of the birds for summer 

 habitats, — namely, the Bog, the Meadow, and the Virgin Forest. 

 The trees are conifers and hardwoods in about equal proportion, 

 the former perhaps predominating. There are no bushes, the 

 ground being shaded and generally overgrown with Sphagnum and 

 wood sorrel (Oxalis), with a thin growth of seedlings from the 

 parent trees. Within, it is dark, clamp and silent. The birds to be 

 seen in this dense forest are few. There is a minimum of light, 

 and hence birds fond of sunshine are repelled. Other species avoid 

 the dark forest because their mode of life associates them with 

 scattered shrubbery or thickets. Here, however, the Hermit Thrush 

 is to be seen at its best ; the Golden-crowned Kinglet works in the 

 middle story of the foliage, making its presence known by its im- 

 patient zee dee often repeated ; the Red-breasted Nuthatch regularly 

 chooses this habitat ; the Winter Wren utters its gushing song from 

 the vicinity of brooks in this forest ; the Black-throated Green 

 Warbler and Black-poll Warbler occasionally disclose their pres- 

 ence by brief song or flutter of wing ; at quarter-mile intervals the 

 Red-eyed Vireo sings persistently ; in the boulder-strewn ravines the 

 J unco utters its monotonous rattle ; and the Pine Siskin and Red 

 Crossbill may occasionally be heard in the tops of the tall conifers. 

 This list contains virtually all the birds frequenting the depths of a 

 virgin forest here or elsewhere in the Adirondack region. (See 

 plate 33.) 



8. The Lumbered Clearing. South of the Camp, across Sucker 

 Brook, lies an area of considerable importance in our bird quest, 

 where the forest has been cleared by lumbermen some time ago. 

 Unlike the Habitation Clearing, it has no buildings, or introduced 

 forage grasses and weeds, and it therefore exhibits nature's methods 

 of restoring injury when unaccompanied by human aid. The trees 

 had been removed in the main, leaving the open area exposed to 

 sunshine ; and the prevailing vegetation is now berry-producing 

 shrubbery grown breast high, and covering logs, stumps and small 

 boulders, forming a tangle in the open spaces. There are also 

 some tall deciduous trees, and several dead snags and boles. The 

 birds of these clearings are much the same as those of the Habita- 

 tion Clearing, excluding certain species especially attracted by build- 

 ings actually in use; and all sorts of birds visit it, as it borders the 



