Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - I. Physical Geography. Introd. by [G. Sundbärg] Gunnar Andersson - 5. Flora. By H. Hesselman - 6. Fauna. By [T. Tullberg] N. von Hofsten
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74
I. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
of the new country. The greater part hereof came from the south, ancl
the first flora was not very exacting of warmth. It is now met with in
the Alpine region. After that came the birch and the aspen; after that
the pine and a large number of true leaftrees, such as linden, elm, maple,
oak. From the east across Finland, came the spruce, and as one of the
last immigrants came the beech. Since the immigration of the flora a
number of small or so-called elementary species have developed within
certain polymorphous plant-families, mostly perhaps within the Hieracium
family, which counts some 3 000 elementary species that occur
exclusively’ within the limits of Sweden or of Scandinavia.
6. FAUNA.
During the so-called glacial epoch, a geological period lying
comparatively near to our own time, the whole of the Scandinavian peninsula was,
as the greater part of Greenland now is, covered with ice, which
undoubtedly excluded from these regions practically all animal and plant life.
By degrees, however, other climatic conditions made their appearance; a
warmer period succeedes the old one; and the masses of ice covering
Scandinavia began to melt away; and the country became once more
habitable. The ice was gradually followed, in its retreat northwards,
by the existing flora and fauna, which thus entered the country at a
comparatively låte period. (Cf. the preceding chapters.)
It is thus evident that in the Scandinavian peninsula there cannot He
found ancient forms which differ widely from those of other countries. But,
on the other hand, owing to climatic conditions and the still extensive forests,
a number of forms have been able to survive here which have long since
disappeared from southern and central Europe. One consequence of the nature of the
climate is the great difference displayed in animal life, especially by the insects
and birds, in summer and winter. As for the birds, this difference, to a
great extent, is due to the great number of migrants, which come in spring to
breed, enlivening the landscape from the high mountains and great mountain
lakes down to the lowland and sea-coast, and which then fly away in låte
summer and autumn to warmer climates, leaving mountain, forest and field
silent and deserted. In the course of their migration, too, a number of species
rest in certain places, which then sometimes display, for several weeks, pictures
of changeful and varied bird-life. Such resting-places are southern Öland and
Skelderviken; others are more to the north on the eastern coast of Sweden and
on the coast of Halland; but in Skåne also, as well as in many places in the
interior of the country, some of the Swedish migratory birds stay for a longer
or shorter period in the course of their migrations.
Another noteworthy feature of the Swedish fauna — also due to the long, snowy
winters — is the white winter-dress of certain birds and mammals, by means of
which some of them, such as the hare and the ptarmigan, obtain protection from
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