322 University of California Puilications in Zoology [J<^^- 24 



Lack of suitable open country elsewhere may be an element in the 

 occurrence of a horned lark and a Savannah sparrow as Alpine- Arctic 

 species in this region, but the other species listed are all representative 

 inhabitants of the Alpine-Arctic Zone. 



Results of this classification of the birds by their zonal predilections 

 may be summarized as follows : that the valleys of the upper Skeena 

 re^on, east of the coast ranges, are in the Canadian life zone ; that on 

 the surrounding mountains there is a well defined belt of Hudsonian 

 Zone ; and that the treeless m^ountain tops pertain to the Alpine- Arctic 

 Zone. At this latitude the Canadian life zone does not reach the coast, 

 where but two life zones can be defined, Hudsonian from sea level 

 upward to the tree limit, and Alpine-Arctic above that. 



An analysis of the occurrence of mammals in this general region, 

 as far as our more limited knowledge of them extends, tends to 

 corroborate the above statements based upon the avifauna. 



The upper Skeena Valley is the northern limit reached in this 

 region by the following species of birds: 



Phloeotomus p. pieinus Bombycilla eedrorum 



Tyranuus tyrannus Vireosylva olivacea 



Hesperiphona v. brooksi Dendroiea a. auduboni 



Zonotrichia albieollis Dendroiea magnolia 



Junco 0. shufeldti Dmnetella carolinensis 



Stelgidopteryx serripennis Troglodytes a. parkmani 



Some of these get no farther north than the town of Hazelton. Of 

 the others, it is doubtful if favorable conditions occur for more than 

 fifty or sixty miles north of that point, at the outside. There are 

 enough of these southern spgcies to give character to the avifauna of 

 this region, they all are stopped at practically the same boundary, and 

 some have closely related congeners in the country immediately to 

 the northward (see Swarth, 1922, p. 152). 



Besides the species of mammals collected, certain others came to 

 our attention. Tracks of black bear {Ursus americanus) appeared 

 along the rivers in September when the salmon were dying. Coyotes 

 (Canis), though never seen, were frequently heard howling in Kispiox 

 Valley. Beaver (Castor canadensis) were actively at work in certain 

 small lakes near our Kispiox Valley camp. Fresh tracks of deer 

 {Odocoileiis) were noted at the summit of Nine-mile Mountain, and a 

 •single deer was seen in Kispiox Vallej^ September 8. A number of 

 shed horns of caribou (Rangifer) were found on Nine-mile Mountain, 

 but the animals themselves were not there at that time. 



