36 LIFE ZONES AND CROP ZONES. 



XUTS. 



Peanuts^ (h). 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Cowpeas. Sugar beet. 



Flax. Siveet potatoes (h). 



Hemp {Cannabis sativa) . Tobacco. 



Lima beans. Wliite potatoes. 



Sorghum. 



(5) The Upper Sonoran Faunal Area. 



The Upper Souoran faunal area (colored j^ellowisli without spots on 

 the map) of the Western States and Territories is the arid-hmd con- 

 tinuation of the Carolinian area of the more humid Eastern States. 

 Beginning in the neighborhood of the one hundredth meridian, it 

 covers; most of the great plains in eastern Montana and Wyoming, 

 southwestern South Dakota, westei-n Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, 

 and Texas, and eastern Colorado and New Mexico. In Oregon and 

 Washington it covers the plains of the Columbia and the 3Ialheur 

 and Harney plains; in California it encircles the Sacramento and San 

 Joaquin valleys and forms a narrow belt along the eastern boundary 

 of tlie C'oloiado and Moliave deserts; in Utah it covers the Salt Lake 

 and Sevier deserts; in Idaho the Snake Plains, and in Nevada and 

 Arizona irregular areas of suitable elevation, as will be seen by the 

 map. Except in California, the most conspicuous vegetation of the 

 Upper Sonoran areas is the true sagebrush {Artemisia tridentata), 

 wliich, however, is equally abundant in tlie Transition zone. Several 

 of the so-called ' grease woods ' {AtripJe.i- coufertifolia, A. catiescens, 

 A. nuttalli, Tetradyitiia catiescens, Sarcohatus verniicidatus^ and 

 Gnujia spinosa) are cliaracteristic of suitable soils, and nut pines 

 (piilon) and junipers occur here and there, mostly on the mountain 

 slopes. 



Among the characteristic birds and mammals are the burrowing owl, 

 Brewer's spanow, Nevada sage sparrow, Lazuli linch, sage thraslier, 

 Nuttall's poor-will, Bullock's oriole, rough-winged swallow, five-toed 

 kangai'oo rats, pocket mice, grasshopper mice, sage chipmunk, sage 

 cottontail, Idaho rabbit, black-tailed jack rabbit, and the Oregon, 

 LTtah, ami Townsend's ground sipjirrels. Some parts of the I'^pper 

 Soiu)ran in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho have so liot a climate that 

 they might almost be considered Lower Sonoran. The localities 

 referred to are Alvord Desert in southern Oregon, and certain parts 

 of the valleys of the Snake and Columl)ia rivers, including the lower 

 part of tlu' canyon of the Des Chutes. While Alvord Desert is a dii-ect 

 continuation of the Sonoran deserts of Nevada, the areas along the 

 Columbia and Snake rivers are completely isolated and widely 



'Peanuts are not of much commercial importance in this zone, though grown on 

 a small scale locally in iMichigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, Delaware, and a few 

 other States. 



