HE preliminary report of the Commission, which \ras first pub- 

 Hshcd in 1901 as directed by law, is supplemented in this volume 

 by articles on various subjects relating to forests, fish and game, 

 lit Some of these papers were written b}' officials connected with 

 this Department ; the others were contributed by well-known authorities in response 

 to the solicitation of the Commission. 



The thanks of the Commission are due to Mr. Madison Grant, Secretary of the 

 New York Zoological Society, for his article on the Moose, which has an especial 

 interest at this time on account of the effort now being made to restock the 

 .\dirondack forests with this species of big game; to Maj. W. A. Wadsworth, Presi- 

 dent of the Boone and Crockett Club, and late President of the New York State 

 Forest, Fish and Game Commission, for his paper on the Wapiti, or so-called 

 American Elk, a timely paper, also, in view of the carloads of elk recently liberated 

 in the North Woods; to Hon. George Chahoon, late -Senator from the Adirondacl< 

 district, for his interesting description of the Black Bear, the protection of whicli 

 is now urgently demanded by sportsmen and by residents of Northern New York, 

 and to Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, Chief of the Department of Fish and Game at th« 

 World's Fair, St. Louis, who contributed tlie article on the Fishes of New York 

 The colored plates depicting the various species of fish are by Mr. S. F. Denton 

 and are fully up to the high standard of artistic work displayed by him in illustrat- 

 ing tile ])re\'ious reports of this Department. The illustrations of large mammals 

 are in the best style of Mr. Oliver Kemp, while numerous tc.\t and full page illustra- 

 tions are from the fine drawings of Mr. Henry S. Watson. F'or the many figures 

 illustrating the article on the Food and Game Fishes of New York the Commission 



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