1922] Swarth: Birds and Mammals of the Stikine Begion 137 



opposite, rocky walls rise abruptly from the water's edge; exposed 

 granite cliffs and steep, forested slopes reach to a height of perhaps 

 1500 feet, then a stretch of gentler slopes ascends to the base of the 

 higher mountains beyond. 



Vegetation here is of the interior, but the underbrush is much 

 denser than we found it farther up the river. Alder thickets cover 

 large areas of the bottom lands and poplar groves the lower slopes 

 of the hills. Fir {Ahies amubiUs) grows in abundance down to the 

 level of the river, forming groves of considerable extent, mixed with 



rig. I. stikine Valley from Flood Glacier; view toward the river from the 

 front of the glacier. The opening in the foreground, the present terminal 

 moraine, owes its snowy appearance to the white, glacier-polished rocks with 

 which the ground is strewn; there was no snow at that level. The ridge in the 

 middle distance is on the far (east) side of the Stikine. On the upper slopes 

 of the distant mountains there is a series of hanging glaciers, with running 

 streams descending from each one. Photograph taken August 1, 1919. 



some spruce. There are also eottonwood, willow, and birch, all grow- 

 ing to large size, and, of smaller trees, mountain ash {Sorbus sit- 

 chensis) and maple {Acer douglasii) . 



On the mountainside above we found a well defined belt of spruce 

 timber of large size, above that a belt of scrubby and prostrate balsam 

 {Abies lasiocarpa), and still higher an area that is destitute of any 

 trees or bushes, given over to heather, moss, and grasses. 



