NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
215 
across it are the massed and serried ranks of the pine trees of the forests of 
Aherneihy and Rothiemurchus, extending for miles up and down the valley, and 
stretching up the hill sides, which culminate in the principal summits of the 
Cairngorms. This great background, far in the distance, dwarfs by its size and 
remoteness the woodlands at its Irase. They seem in proportion only dense 
plantations, such as occur on many hill sides, and it is not until the forests are 
visited and passed through that their extent and area is properly appreciated. 
At about the height of 1,500 feet above sea-level, the Abernethy and 
Rothiemurchus Scots pines die out, but in some Deeside glens the pines run 
to a considerably greater height, as noted in my list. It may, however, be 
accurately said that the limit of forest growth is reached at from 1,500 to 1,700 
feet, and the list shows that but few species attain even this height. In excep- 
tional situations or circumstances individual trees of the mountain-ash, birch, 
Scots pine, spruce fir and larch, occur at higher levels, but the highest common 
levels are those noted underneath. 
List ok Species of Forest Trees occurring upwards of 1,100 fret 
ABOVE Sea- LEVEL. 
Lime 
Great Maple 
Laburnum 
Scotch Laburnum 
Horse Chestnut ... 
Wild Cherry 
Bird Cherry 
Whitebeam 
Mountain Ash (Rowan)... 
Hawthorn 
Ash 
Elm 
Birch 
Hazel 
Alder 
Oak 
Beech 
Willows ... 
White Poplar 
Aspen 
Spruce Fir 
Larch 
Abies kookeriana (bearing 
Scots Pine 
Tilia europita 
Acer Pseuiioplatanus 
Cytisus Laburnum 
C. alpinum 
yEseulus Hippocastanum 
Primus Avium ... 
P. Pcuius 
Pyrus Aria 
P. Aucuparia 
CraUegus Oxyacantha ... 
Fraximis excelsior 
Ulmus montana 
Betula alba 
Cory Ills Avillana 
A Inus glutinosa .. 
Quercus Robur ... 
Fagus sylvatica ... 
Salix (two species at least) 
Populus alba 
P. tremula 
Picea excelsa 
Larix etiropaa ... 
many cones in July, 1903) 
Pinus sylvestris ... 
.. 1,100- 1,200 feet. 
,) i» I* 
, , ,1 , , 
1,200 ,, 
I 100— 1,200 ,, 
. . 1,300—1,400 ,, 
... 1,200-1,300 ,, 
2,000 ,, 
1,100 ,, 
. 1,100—1,200 ,, 
,, , I II 
1,800—2,000 ,, 
1,100—1,200 ,, 
1,500 
1,200 „ 
1,100 ,, 
1,100—1,200 ,, 
1,200 ,, 
1,500 ,, 
2,000 ,, 
2,000 ,, 
1,200 ,, 
... 2,000 — 2,100 ,, 
Of the twenty-five species named the birch and the Scots pine far exceed all 
the others put together, in number, and at the higher levels the last-named 
species is the predominant one. Considerable numbers of fairly well-grown pines 
run up to over 2,000 feet in Glens Quoich and Derry (Forest of Mar), and with 
them are some spruces and larches. The larch is numerous in other places. At 
and above the village of Braemar is a very lovely and typical birch wood, many 
of the houses being built in clearings in this wood. By the side of the River 
Dee the birches are tail, and many of them are above the average size ; but 
when 1,500 feet up is reached they have become beautifully small and well- 
proportioned. There are thousands not over six feet in height. They ascend 
the slopes of Morrone in almost unbroken numbers to about 1,700 feet, sweeping 
over its northern side. It is a characteristic Highland native wood, with an 
undergrowth of heather, juniper and bracken. Amongst the birches are occa- 
sional aspens, bird-cherry, and Scots pine. 
Of the other species in the list, solitary examples of the mountain-ash occur 
in more than one place at 2,000 feet, and at lower levels it abounds. The alder 
is by all the stream sides ; but the hazel is scarce. Only one small oak was noted ; 
it is not till the 700-800 feet level is reached that oaks become prominent. In the 
neighbourhood of man’s dwellings specimens of the other trees named above may 
