22 WILD ANIMALS OF GLACIEE NATIONAL PARK. 



HtTDSONIAN ZONE. 



The Hndsoniaii, or tiniberline, zone is a narrow belt around the 

 peaks about 1,000 feet in average vertical width, reaching generally 

 from 0,000 to 7,000 feet in altitude on the -cold northeast exposures 

 flnd from 7,000 to 8,000 on the warmer southwest exposures. On very 

 steep slopes it often runs beyond these average limits, falling lower 

 on cold and rising higher on warm exposures. Its borders are very 

 irregular, but across a canyon its upper edge may be readily traced 

 on opi^osite slopes by tlie fingertips of dwarfed or prostrate trees, 

 while below it melts into tlie solid Canadian Zone forest. It has 

 far more open than timbered areas and includes cliffs and extensive 

 rock slides and snow banks. In midsummer it is the most attractive . 

 zone of the mountains, with its brilliant flower gardens carpeting the 

 open slopes and grassy meadows, its miniature forests and scattered 

 groves of dwarfed and wind-beaten timber, its unusual bird and ani- 

 mal life, numerous snow banks, little lakes and roaring rivulets, cool, 

 fresh air, and glorious mountain views, all combining to make of it 

 an inspiring camp ground. 



Its dominant tree is the small white-barked pine {Pinus alhicauUs) , 

 but the dwarfed mountain tamarack {Larix lyelli) is occasionally 

 found. The Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir also occur in 

 stunted, dwarfed, and windswept forms, reaching to extreme timber- 

 line, althouoh their real forest growth is confined to the zone below. 

 Shrubby vegetation is scarce except for dwarfed willows, the purple 

 and white heathers {Phyllodoce enijJetnformis and P. glanduliflora), 

 Eocky Mountain laurel {Kalmla glanca)^ mountain gooseberry, and 

 dwarf blueberry. The conspicuous flowering plants, however, are 

 legion and are often massed in areas of almost solid color. The great 

 j'ellow dogtooth violet fills this zone as well as the Canadian Zone 

 below and at times gives a dominant color to the slopes. The large 

 white flowers and woolly heads of the west-wind flower- (Pulsatilla oe- 

 cidentalis) , the creamy globe flower, and the milk vetch are abundant 

 and conspicuous, the creamy, roselike Dryus octopetala. often carpets 

 the ground, and many species of saxifrage are found, with the little 

 white Areiuiiia and Stellaria. The blues are conspicuous in the little 

 larksjnir, the Jacob 's-ladder (Polemoniutn viscosnm) , a water leaf 

 {Phacella), Venus's-looking- glass, and the deep-blue gentians. The 

 reds and pinks and purples are shown in Indian paint brushes, moun- 

 tain evening primroses {Godetia quadrivul/nera) , louseworts, elephant 

 heads, and PeriMcmon. The yellows of buttercups, cinque foils, and 

 golden asters, and the orange of Arnica, hawk-weed, and tSeneeio are 

 conspicuous. 



Among the niannuals are white goats, mountain sheep, hoarv 

 marmots, conies, and alpine chipnamks, while the Columbia ground 



