Bicknell on Hylocichla alicice bicknelli. 153 
while a sharp wind from the northwest piercing the wet woods 
and sighing among the balsams, blasted and weather beaten, 
heightened an impression of remoteness and desolation. The 
evergreens, constituting the principal arboreal growth, extended 
off on all sides, clothing the rocky and moss-grown slopes, and 
presenting the striking contrast of a young and fragrant second 
growth clustering about the branchless, and spiny trunks of their 
sires tottering in decay ; or, with tangled and matted branches 
outlined here and there, as we approached the summit, against a 
gray and cheerless sky. Owing to the comparatively short life 
of these trees, that high portion of the mountain where their tribe 
had pitched was brought into grim contrast with its surroundings. 
Old age and death, continually present invading their ranks, 
had everywhere left their traces ; flourishing clusters had been 
stricken in their fellowship, groups and gatherings had been 
divided and scattered, and like a contagion the destroyer had 
spread among their hosts. But the younger generations are con- 
tinually forming their associations, and with green and fragrant 
grouping filling in deserted chambers and screening the devasta- 
tion that has gone before, although only to furnish material for 
its continuance in the future. All this, with an occasional under- 
growth of greater or less luxuriance, gave a diversified and some- 
what open character to the surroundings, entirely dissimilar to 
that of the environing forest ; conditions, which, in conjunction 
with humidity and elevation, have brought this mountain top 
into some relation with the swampland of a more northern region. 
Reachihg a more elevated portion of the ridge where the ground 
was more level and the surface less rocky, that north-woods tree, 
the Paper Birch {Betnla papy raced) occasionally appeared, and 
more abundantly the Mountain Ash. Almost the only remnant 
of the dense mountain forests below was the Yellow Birch (Be- 
tula luted) which, joining the undergrowth, persisted with small 
and stunted stature to the summit. On all sides were to be seen 
the white blossoms of Viburnum lantanoides which, though also 
found in the valley woodlands, had there long since flowered and 
was now bearing green fruit. Another characteristic shrub was 
Amelanchier canadensis oligocarpa ; lower down had been 
found the var. botryapium , but here, the northern form was well 
marked, seeming almost specifically distinct. In the deep, damp 
moss, covering and filling in the rocks beneath the balsam growth, 
