PREFACE. IX 



not to so great an extent as in the region next to be described. Among the 

 Mammalia, we find the Northern Lynx, the Deer Mouse and Porcupine ; while 

 all the lakes in the interior of this district, which empty into the Lake Ontario, 

 formerly abounded with Salmon, which found their way from the sea through 

 the Gulf and River St. Lawrence. In its southern portions it is similarly con- 

 nected with the basin of the Mississippi, and the intermediate regions are watered 

 by the streams which empty into the Delaware and Chesapeake. 



2. The Northern District comprises, as its name imports, the northern portion 

 of the State, which forms an irregular truncated triangle, bounded on its western 

 side by Lake Ontario and the River St. Lawrence, on its eastern side by Lake 

 Champlain and Lake George, and lying north of the Mohawk valley. This 

 district, in its southern and southeastern portions, rises into numerous conical 

 peaks and short ranges, attaining in some places an elevation of more than five 

 thousand feet. Towards Lakes Champlain and George, these subside suddenly 

 to the level of those sheets of water. To the north and northwest, this descends 

 by a gradual and almost imperceptible slope towards the River St. Lawrence. 

 This slope is watered by the Oswegatchie, the Moose and Black rivers, the Ra- 

 quet and Grass and St. Regis rivers, all arising from numerous lakes embosomed 

 in the mountainous regions of its southern parts. Lake Champlain, a part of its 

 eastern boundary, extends north and south one hundred and forty miles, is twelve 

 miles wide in its broadest part, and discharges its water through the Sorel river 

 into the St. Lawrence. Into the southern part of this lake is also poured the wa- 

 ters of Lake George or Horicon, thirty-seven miles long, and varying from one 

 to seven miles in breadth. The cluster of mountains in its southeastern portions 

 may be considered as an offset from the great Appalachian system, which, de- 

 scending through the States of Maine, New-Hampshire and Vermont, passes 

 southwesterly between the Western and Hudson river districts, and is continued 

 under the name of the Allegany range of mountains. In this region too we find the 

 Sacondaga, Cedar, Jessup, and other tributaries of the Hudson, within a short 

 distance of those which pour into the St. Lawrence. This mountainous region 

 comprises the counties of Essex, Hamilton, Herkimer and Warren, and the 

 southern part of the counties of Clinton, Franklin and St. Lawrence, and has 

 been estimated to contain an area of about six thousand square miles. Its zoolo- 

 gical character is strongly impressed by the features just alluded to. The chief 

 growth of trees in this district are the Spruce, Pine, Larch, Balsam, Fir and 



