Page:Condor17(3).djvu/14

120 THI? CONDOR Vol. XVII ally large patches of kinnikinnick, the berries of which are a favorite food of the Ruffed Grouse. The slopes of the higher ranges including the Coeur d'Alene Mountains, which have escaped the ravages of extensive forest fires in the past six years, are covered with dense stands of white pine and Douglas fir, the open ridges and burned over areas being grown up with shrubs similar to lower hills. The kinnikinnick is replaced by large patches of blueberry, a haunt of the Richard- son Grouse. The numerous mountain streams are hned with a growth of wil- lows, alder, and ?qpirea ?ne?z{es{{, which latter becomes very dense in shady places near sources and outlets. Where streams flow into lakes there are often flats several acres in extent which are subject to overflow in the spring. ? Fig. 46. TOWNSITE OF COEUR D'ALENE, ?.DAHO; HEAD OF SPOKANE RIVER AND FORT SHERMAN MILITARY RESERVATION IN FOREGROUND Many of the flats are covered with a growth of tules, water grasses, willows, and ?qFirea ?ne?zies?{, and are bordered with a few cottonwood and aspen and inhabited by a number of species of birds that prefer deciduous timber and marshy ground. The scarcity of ducks and the absence of many species of shore birds in this vicinity may be due to several causes: A general decrease in numbers of waterfowl as residents and migrants, and by a lack of feeding and breeding grounds. In former years the St. Joe marshes, and a large marsh about one and a half miles west of the city, locally known as meadows, were frequented by a large number of waterfowl, many of them breeding in seclusion. Present conditions are greatly changed by continuation of high water throughout the