1924] Swarth: Birds and Mammals of the Skeena River Region 319 



Nine-Mile Mountain 



This mountain lies a short distance northeast of Hazelton; its 

 southern base is skirted by the Babine trail, leading from the town. 

 Our camp near the summit was about twenty miles, by road and by 

 trail, northeast of Hazelton. In ascending the mountain, the poplar 

 belt is left behind almost at the very base, and a forest of spruce, 

 intermingled with cedar, is entered. At an altitude of about 2000 feet 

 the lower edge of hemlock {Tsuga heterophylla) is reached; at about 

 2500 feet the forest is practically all hemlock, large trees, with little 

 or no underbrush beneath. Just below timber line (about 4500 feet 

 altitude) the forest is largely composed of white fir {Abies grandis), 

 though some hemlock persists to the upper limit of tree growth. 



We camped at timber line in a cabin precariously clinging to a 

 little niche on the steep hillside. The slope was part of a huge amphi- 

 theater, the outstanding ridges on either side perhaps a mile apart, 

 and the crest of the mountain about iive hundred feet above. Immedi- 

 ately below was the dark hemlock and fir forest, its upper edge as 

 sharply defined as though the open slopes above had been cleared 

 by man.. Much of this amphitheater was covered with tall grass, 

 veratrum, and lupine ; in places there were extensive thickets of alder. 

 Wide rock slides extended down from the divide in several places, 

 sometimes into the forests below. The trail to the top passed through 

 a notch in the ridge at an altitude of about 5000 feet ; rounded summits 

 arose on either side about 500 feet higher. The summit of the moun- 

 tain is composed of two converging ridges, each five or six miles long 

 at least; we did not cover their entire area. Between these ridges is 

 enclosed a broad, steeply sloping valley. 



The country above timber line, covering many miles along the 

 higher ridges, is open and park-like, verj' attractive to the view. 

 White fir and mountain hemlock {Tsuga meriensiana) occur, dwarfed 

 and prostrate, forming scattered thickets over ground that otherwise 

 is mostly grass covered. Snow banks persist through the summer, and 

 below the melting snow are occasional little lakes, sometimes an acre 

 or more in extent. On damp slopes grass is replaced by false heather 

 {Cassiope mertensiana) , luxuriant growths that cover extensive areas. 

 Below the ridges the grass became much higher and was intermingled 

 with lupine. 



An interesting feature of the Nine-mile Mountain avifauna is the 

 unusual number of genera and species of grouse that occur there. At 



