98 MICHIGAN SURVEY, 1908. 



about the middle of August. Xear the road leading to the second 

 clearing to the north was a small spot cleared for a garden. This 

 bare ground was the favorite feeding place of the Horned Larks. On 

 the short, steep slope which skirted the road to the second clearing, 

 thirty or forty stumps had been left. These were the favorite perches 

 for the Sparrow and Sharp-shinned Hawks, and the tops of many 

 of them were covered with the harder portions of grasshoppers, these 

 insects forming one of the principal foods of these birds. Three nar- 

 row roads or trails left this clearing, one to the second clearing, one 

 to the head of Siskowit Bay, and the third to Lake Desor. The first 

 of these was kept open and had originallj' been much wider than at 

 ])resent, being narrowed by a fringe of alders, birches, and small bushes 

 together with young balsams and spruces. 



The second clearing, consisting of 3 acres, was divided into two parts,, 

 a grassy tract and a garden in which potatoes, carrots, etc., were 

 grown. From this a road (Fig. 56) led to the third clearing, 

 called Wendigo, which was about the same size, and contained 

 two old log houses and two or three decaying sheds. Few 

 of the stumps had been removed and hawks used them as per- 

 ches. The ground was overgrown with short, nearly dead grass. 

 White-footed mice were abundant in these clearings after nightfall,, 

 and many Northern Hares were seen along the roads just at dusk. A 

 narrow road wound past the clearing and off along the base of the 

 bluffs for a mile or more to several abandoned cuts made by the old 

 mining compa^iy. It was along these roads, which ran approximately 

 . north-east and south-west, that the bulk of the migrants passed. Even 

 during the heavy migration comparatively few birds were observed in 

 the denise forests, although many passed along the river. It has been 

 generally noticed that many birds, the smaller migrants in particular, 

 as the sparrows and warblers, prefer the borders of clearings, and a 

 long narrow road thl'ough heavy timber and bordered by bushes and 

 small trees, appeared to be an ideal place for them. All the clearings 

 were surrounded by the dense, coniferous forest except the first which 

 fronted on the lake. 



2. The Forest. The forest may be considered to consist of all that 

 portion which has not been entirely cleared of the native trees. The 

 major part consists of balsam and spruce with a heavy undergrowth 

 of ground hemlock, and in places along the river there are dense 

 thickets of alder. The soil in the depressions is damp, with small pools 

 of water standing on the decayed leaves. Washington River flows 

 through the lower portion of tiie forest. It is a stream sixty or seventy 

 feet wide near its mouth, but it rapidly diminishes in size, so that 

 near Wendigo is not more than five or six feet across. However it 

 becomes much more rapid and the banks are covered with refuse and 

 fallen logs and branches. 



Few resident birds were found in the dense, dark forest, and still 

 fewer migrants were found there. During very severe weather the 

 Chipping Sparrow sometimes retreated to the protection of the balsams, 

 but it never Avandered far from the open. The White-throated Spar- 

 row was quite common, breeding in the forest along tlie river, and even 

 during migration it was found most abundant in, the underbrush. The 



