Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/191

* GKEAT BRITAIN. 165 GREAT BRITAIN. trade. With tliis exception, the longer and more gently tiowinj; eastern rivers are most useful. The Tay, iSpey, and Tweed are all about 100 miles, and the Dee and the Don about 80 miles long. The Tay and the Forth are great water highways, commanding all the river tralhc pas.s- ing through the eastern-central portion of Scot- land. The two famous lake regions of Great Britain are in the Highlands of Scotland, where here and there in the valleys the rivers have spread out into long and narrow lakes or loehs, which follow the curves of the hillsides and con- tribute much to the beauty and charm of this picturesque region, and the Lake District of the Cumbrian Mountains in Xorthwest England, al- ready' mentioned. Clim.te. Warm winters, cool summers, and large rainfall are the characteristics of the Brit- ish climate. The island owes these advantages to tlie surrounding seas, which are unusually warm considering their latitude. The westerly winds (the southwest Anti-Trades) blowing most of the time from oflf the broad expanse of the Atlantic, heighten the temperature of the winter months, mitigate the heat of summer, and cover the skies, for a great part of the year, with clouds which often hang upon the land as fog. Icebound harbors are unknown. There is no great variety of climate, because the countiy is not of great ex- tent, and its surface, even to the mountain-tops, does not reach a high elevation. The difference of summer temperature between the extreme north and south of the island is about 10°. Some dis- tinct varieties of climate due to wind, moisture, and differences of elevation, mav be mentioned. In April, May, and .June the winds blow more fre- quently from the east than from the west. These are the drier months in Great Britain. The copious rains which the westerly winds bring make the highland regions of the west among the richest in rainfall of any part of Europe ; but the larger part of the precipitation descends upon the highlands of the west, the plains of the east re- ceiving a far smaller quantity of rain. All parts of the country, however, receive sufficient rain for agricultural needs; and the numerous valleys extending southwest and northeast permit the sea air to carry much moisture far inland before it falls as rain. The annual range of temperature is smallest in the west because it is more ex- posed to the influence of the Atlantic. The sum- mers are, therefore, a little wanner and the win- ters a little colder on the plains than among the ■western mountains. The western regions also have more sunshine than the plains, where cloud and fog are more prevalent. The average temperature of Great Britain for the year is 48° F. with extremes of 5.3° (Scilly Islands) and 45° (Shetland), so that the mean annual tem- perature decreases about 1° for every 100 miles toward the north. Snow falls on the higher lands, and sometimes covers most of the coun- try; but no mountain is so high as to be snow- capped in summer. The islands are exposed to the great cyclonic storms which sometimes sweep in from the Atlantic. Soils. Soils formed from the immediately un- derlying rocks are not the most common in Great Britain, and w'here they are so formed they are usually poor. Thus the hard crystalline rocks of the western mountains yield a comparatively poor soil ; and the soil is not very fertile south of the Thames, where the local chalk and flint enter so largely into its composition. The very fertile soils of" most of the i)lains, ])articularly north of the Thames, are the mixed components of many kinds of rocks ground up by glacial ice, carried a considerable distance and spread over the surface. Thus the best wheat lands are mixed soils. The rivers, also, passing over many varieties of rocks, spread this mixed rock waste along their valleys, and these alluvial soils are very fertile. The soil of Scotlaiul is naturally fertile outside of the mountain districts. Flora. The native flora of Great Britain is almost identical with that of the neighboring portion of Continental Europe; some mainland species, however, do not appear. In early times the island was almost completely covered with forests, but to-day little of the original wood- lands remains, and only 3.G per cent, of the sur- face is covered with fo"rests. so that the country is largely dependent upon other lands for forest products. The chief native trees are the oak and beech in the lower lands, and the Scotch pine and birch in the high and more northern districts. The great rainfall on the steeper mountain slopes has generally washed away the soil, showing the rock skeleton unrelieved by vegetation. On the gentler slopes of the Scottish and Welsh high- lands, little except moss, fern, and heather can grow in the thin soil ; they are the characteristie forms of vegetation in these higher regions; the valleys between the mountains, however, are often rich in grass which is turned to good account by sheep and cattle farmers. All the cultivated plants that thrive in the. lower lands have been introduced from the neighboring Continent and America. The mild, moist climate gives a pe- culiarly rich and fresh aspect to the vegetation. The pastures and hay lands are luxuriant, and the fields look like well-kept gardens. Fauna. As the British Isles, until geologically recent times, were an integral part of the Conti- nent, they partake of the general fauna of West- ern Europe, and present few differences except such as are due to man. All the larger animals were long ago e.xterminated (see Extixct Ani- !i[AL9), or have been preserved only as curiosities on private estates, with the exception of the red deer. Otters, badgers, polecats, and weasels siir- vive free persecution; foxes persist under pro- tection. The hare, squirrel, hedgehog, vole, some wild mice, moles, shrews, and bats nearly com- plete the list of remaining British land mammals. Seals of two or three species are found on the northern coasts, and the cetaceans of the North Atlantic visit the shores from time to time. Cer- tain common animals of Xorthern and Western Europe, such as the reindeer, elk, roe-deer, lem- ming, hamster, etc., have had no place in Great Britain within historic times; neither have sev- eral mammals of Southern France. The birds more fully represent the European air fauna_. for the Britisli Isles lie upon a path of coastal migration between tropical and north- eni latitudes. This brings regularly to Great Britain most of the European birds, but some species are exceedingly rare there which occur commonly in the Rhone-Rhine Valley. Laws have long afforded protection to all birds, resident or migratory, preserving many species that were formerly threatened with extinction, yet some have been lost. The principal British birds are the raven, hooded and carrion crows, rook, jack- daw, magpie, chough, and jay — the last two be-