XVU1 



INTRODUCTION. 



rous at their breeding-places in winter as in summer ; and they pair 

 and begin to lay eggs in the month of March, — nearly three months 

 earlier than any other bird in those quarters. 



The distribution of the migratory and resident birds is evidently 

 governed, as far as climate is concerned, by very different laws. The 

 winter temperature, regulating the depth and duration of the snow 

 and ice, and consequently the supply of vegetable productions, insects 

 or fish at that season exerting a principal influence on the number 

 of resident birds, whose distribution may be considered as bearing 

 much analogy to that of quadrupeds. While the influx of migratory 

 birds into the northern regions for the purpose of rearing their young 

 is more connected with the high summer temperature of those paral- 

 lels, the mean annual heat, which is very low, being no criterion as 

 to the number or variety of summer visiters *. 



* The following Table gives a view of the temperatures of various stations in North America, the 

 extremes being forty-five degrees of latitude apart. Our limits do not admit of the Table being 

 more extended, but the reader who wishes to enter fully into the subject, may consult Dr. Loveli's 

 valuable tables, appended to the Narrative of Long's Expedition to St. Peter's River, from which the 

 temperatures for Fort St. Philip and Philadelphia have been extracted, and the Edinburgh Philoso- 

 phical Journal for April, 1825, or the Appendices to Sir Edward Parry's and Sir John Franklin's 

 several Narratives, which furnished the materials for the rest of the Table. It may be observed, that 

 the mean annual temperature decreases as we advance northwards 1 J° F. for each degree of latitude, 

 while the decrease of mean heat in July does not exceed 1°. The three last lines are omitted in this 

 calculation, as the observations recorded in them were made among fields of ice, which reduce the 

 summer temperature greatly below what it is even a few miles inland. The snow is perpetual in no 

 part of the Fur Countries, except on the elevated peaks of the Rocky Mountains. 







Position. 





M 



ean tempera 



ture of the Air. 



Max. 

 in the 

 Year. 





Places. 



Lat. 



N. 



Long. 

 W. 



f 



Height I 



,? b ° ve 1 Annual. 

 I lie Sea a 



in feet. | 



Summer. 

 June, 



July, 

 August. 



Winter. 

 December, 



January, 

 February. 



Warmest 

 Month, 

 July. 



in the 

 Year. 











Fahr. 



Fahr. 



Fahr. 



Fahr. 



Fahr. 



Fahr. 



Fort St. Philip 



29 29 



89 21 





+70-07 



+82°. 89 



+54°. 08 



+81°. 53 



+92.0 



+28.0 



Philadelphia 



39 57 



75 9 





-|-53.38 



+72.75 



+29.77 



+75.32 



+ 87.0 



-0.7 



Penetanguishene 



44 48 



80 40 



600 



+45.28 



+69.91 



+22.68 



+73.15 



+92.0 



-20.0 



Cumberland House 



53 57 



102 17 



800 



-j-32.01 



+67-80 



-4.62 



+69.80 



+87-0 



-44.0 



Fort Chipewyan 



58 43 



111 18 



500 



-(-30.00 



+62.41 



+3.67 



+63.42 



+97-0 



-31.0 



Fort Enterprise 



64 



113 6 



850 



+14.19 



+51.71 



-23.03 



+53.20 



+78.0 



-57-0 



1 Fort Franklin 



65 12 



132 13 



230 



4-17.50 



+50.40 



-16.81 



+52.10 



+80.0 



-58.0 



I Winter Island 



66 11 



83 30 





+6.84 



+35.00 



-24.96 



+36.34 



+54.0 



-42.5 



■ Igloolik 



69 19 



82 30 





+2.20 



+34.63 



-26.76 



+40.04 



+50.0 



-50.0 



j Melville Island 



74 45 



111 





-1.71 



+36.44 



-33.02 



+42.41 



+60.0 



-55.0 



