236 SEVENTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



does but little destruction among the animals beyond levying a slight tribute from 

 stray cows or sheep, a process not particularly injurious to the landscape. The bear 

 should be protected by law, and will be just as soon as the guides in the Adiron- 

 dacks appreciate that the value of a skin of a dead bear is a trifle beside the value of 

 the living animal in the interest it excites among the summer visitors. That they 

 can easily be seen by tourists close to hotels has been clearly demonstrated in the 

 Yellowstone Park, where the bear have become quite indifferent to man's presence 

 through long continued immunity from persecution. The lynx is a scarce animal 

 everywhere, and is only destructive to rabbits and partridges ; and he too can be 

 left undisturbed, to furnish bloodcurdling tales for the camp fire in summer and 

 mysterious tracks in the winter's snow. The fox is abundantly able to take care of 

 himself, and does not need the protection of law. There is a strong hatred among 

 Adirondack guides to the porcupine, dating back to the still recent period when 

 dogs were used for running deer. In New Brunswick or Nova Scotia among the 

 Indians it is a high crime to wantonly destroy a porcupine, as it is the only animal 

 that can be easily killed with a club, and it has thus been the means of saving many 

 a lost and starving man. 



All the fur-bearing animals, fisher and martin and mink, but above all the beaver, 

 should enjoy an absolutely close season. If this could be done, and the great 

 northern diver and blue heron, the bittern and the wild ducks could be left undis- 

 turbed, the value of the North Woods as a tourist resort would be infinitely 

 enhanced. The day will come when a guide or nursling sportsman who wantonly 

 kills any of these animals will be branded as a social outlaw, as is to-day the profes- 

 sional hide hunter or market hunter. 



The State is engaged in replacing at great expense the moose which were 

 destroyed fifty years ago. The other animals, such as the beaver, will have to be 

 restored in the future in the same manner. 



It is a fortunate thing for the lovers of wild life that few animals other than 

 those native to the Adirondacks are suitable for introduction there. Attempts will 

 be made to introduce animals like the black tail deer from the west and the caribou 

 from the north. Both of these attempts, in my opinion, will fail. There have 

 never been caribou in the Adirondacks. The chance of success is even less in the 

 efforts which will surely be made to introduce the game of Europe, such as the wild 

 boar or the fallow deer. They are uninteresting, and why any one should want to 

 introduce them is a mystery; but it has been tried and will be tried again, just as 

 carp is being introduced into American waters, although it is a fish entirely devoid 



