320 University of California Publications in Zoology [Vol. 2i 



the base of the mountain is the ruffed grouse {Bonasa) extending from 

 the poplars below well up into the spruce and cedar woods. In 

 the hemlock belt, upward to the tree limit, the Franklin grouse 

 {Canachites) occurs. Just below timber line, and even in thickets 

 above, is the Fleming grouse (Dendragapus) . On the Alpine-Arctic 

 ridges three species of ptarmigan {Lagopus) are found. For six 

 species of grouse to occur so nearly in the same place is, I believe, very- 

 unusual. 



Zonal and Faunal Position of the Upper Skeena Valley 



The upper Skeena Valley lies to the eastward of the coast ranges, 

 and its fauna and flora, as a whole, are of the interior, not of the 

 coast. Conditions in many respects are similar to those of the upper 

 Stikine Valley (see Swarth, 1.922, p. 141'!, two hundred miles to the 

 northward, and observations in the Skeena Valley tend to corroborate 

 conclusions reached in studies of the more northern region (Swarth, 

 loc. cit.). The Skeena Valley is much more humid than the upper 

 Stikine, and neither in animal nor plant life is it so sharply contrasted 

 with the coastal region. The more southern coast ranges are not so 

 high and precipitous as the northern mountains, and the gap through 

 which the Skeena reaches the coast is broad, with sloping walls. 

 Coastal rains often drift inland up the Skeena Valley, and cloudy 

 skies are frequent. Certain coastal specie of birds extend inland here 

 much farther than they do along the Stikine. 



The upper Skeena Valley, like the Stikine, is in the Canadian life 

 zone, contrasted with the Hwdsonian zone of the seacoast (see Swarth, 

 1922, p. 149). Study of the list of birds breeding in the lowlands of 

 the Hazelton region discloses many that are not found on the coast; 

 mostly these are species that elsewhere occur in zones lower than 

 Hudsonian. Some conspicuous ones are : 



Bonasa u. umbelloides Bmpidonax t. alnorum 



Phloeotomus p. pioinus Empidonax hammondi 



Nuttallornis borealis Piranga ludovieiana 



Certain species were seen about Hazelton that are usually found in 

 lower zones even than the Canadian. These are : 



Tyrannus tyrannus Dumetella carolinensis 



Stelgidopteryx serripennis Troglodytes a. parkmani 



Vireosylva olivacea 



