30 
ZONES OF THE AUSTRAL REGION 
eastward of this meridian the annual rainfall exceeds 25 inches; to the 
westward, except on the Pacific coast, it is below this amount. 
In the present connection we may restrict our statements concerning 
the three zones of the Austral Region to their eastern or humid por- 
tions, which have long been known as the Alleghanian, Carolinian, 
and Austroriparian or Louisianian faunas (see Allen ’71). 
The Alleghanian, as will be observed on the map, extends at sea- 
level only as far south as Long Island, where, in response to conditions 
which produce scrub oak and pitch pines, it occupies the southern 
portion of the island, while the Carolinian element is restricted to the 
more fertile northern shore. 
Crossing northern New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania, 
the Alleghanian fauna extends southwestward along the Alleghanies 
to northern Georgia, appearing at an ever increasing altitude. Thus 
in western Maryland its lower limit is 1,200-1,300 feet (Preble), in 
North Carolina 2,500 feet (Brewster), and in Georgia 3,500 feet 
(Howell) . 
The following species are characteristic of the Alleghanian fauna: 
Virginia Rail, Sora, Bob-white, Mourning Dove, Black-billed and 
Yellow-billed Cuckoos, Kingbird, Crested Flycatcher, Bobolink, Cow- 
bird, Meadowlark, Baltimore and Orchard Orioles, Chipping and 
Field Sparrows, Towhee, Indigo Bunting, Yellow-throated and Blue- I 
headed Vireos, Golden- winged and Pine Warblers, Catbird, Brown 
Thrasher, House Wren, Long-billed Marsh Wren, White-breasted 
Nuthatch, Wood Thrush and Wilson’s Thrush. 
The Carolinian fauna, or humid division of the Upper Austral 
zone, reaches the Atlantic seaboard only between Virginia and south- 
eastern New York. Westward it ascends the Alleghanies to an alti- 
tude of 1,200 feet in Maryland (Preble), 2,500 feet in North Carolina 
(Brewster), and 3,500 feet in extreme northeastern Georgia (Howell). 
At this point it sweeps around the extreme southern extension of the 
Alleghanian fauna and expands toward the north and west as indi- 
cated by the map. In the Atlantic States a tinge of the Carolinian fauna 
is present at least as far east as Saybrook, Connecticut, and as far 
north as Portland in the Connecticut Valley, and Fishkill in the Hudson 
Valley. 
Characteristic Carolinian birds are Acadian Flycatcher, Fish Crow, 
Cardinal, Prothonotary, Worm-eating and Blue-winged Warblers, 
Louisiana Water-Thrush, Kentucky and Hooded Warblers, Chat, 
Carolina Wren, and Tufted Titmouse. 
The Austroriparian fauna, or humid division of the Lower Austral 
zone, as its name implies, occupies the South Atlantic States from 
the vicinity of Cape Charles, Virginia, to the tropical portions of south- 
ern Florida, thence westward through the Gulf States and north- 
ward in the Mississippi Valley to southern Illinois and southern Kansas. 
Among its characteristic birds are the Water-Turkey, Louisiana Heron, 
Black Vulture, Ground Dove, Carolina Paroquet (now extinct in this 
