ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



541 



decline it. I refer to the Gray and Fox Squir- 

 rels. 



It is indeed high time that the Gray Squir- 

 rel should be perpetually protected, everywhere 

 throughout this gun-ridden state. 



The delightful little Chipmunk is a tiling of 

 beauty, and its cheerfulness is a perpetual joy. 

 Being very small and commercially valueless, it 

 has not been pursued quite so persistently as 



the larger squirrels and rabbits ; but for all that, 

 the cat and the bad boj' liave made it rare every- 

 where outside of parks. 



In the Zoological Park, it is reallj' pathetic 

 to see how quickly tlie wild creatures respond 

 to protection, and make friends with those who 

 will not permit them to be molested. Take the 

 Gray Rabbit, as an illustration. 



Eight years after the opening of the Park, 

 Gray Squirrels, Chipmunks and Gray Rabbits 

 had become very numerous within it, and almost 

 fearless ! In June, 1 909, at midday, a wild 

 Rabbit very leisurely hopped past me as I came 

 out of my office, not more than twenty feet 

 away, quite as confidently as if he owned the 

 whole place. At fifty feet, all unafraid he halt- 

 ed close beside a big oak tree, in full view of 

 fifty persons, leisurely examined the ground, 

 and presently loped on across the grass into the 

 shrubbery. 



The reason? Our grounds are the only 

 wooded lands in northern New York City in 

 which stray dogs, cats, poachers and other ver- 

 min are not permitted to run at large. Two 

 years ago our Chief Forester estimated that 75 

 wild Rabbits were living and breeding in our 

 grounds. Of chipmunks we have hundreds, and 

 of Gray Squirrels at least fifty. Needless to 

 say, the children and all other people who love 

 animals, are greatly interested by them. 



The Great Northern Hare, gray in sum- 

 mer and snow white in winter, and once abund- 

 ant, is now so rare that onh^ the skilful "up- 

 state" hunter can find one, in swamp or wil- 

 derness far from the haunts of men. It is a 

 pity, too ; for because of its great scarcity, and 

 the fact that it does not thrive in captivity, this 

 fine animal is almost as unknown and mythical 

 to the vast majority of persons as the gyas- 

 cutus. 



By his continued existence in spite of traps, 

 hounds, and guns of all sorts, the Red Fox has 

 ably and satisfactorily demonstrated his right 

 to live. Any sane person who knows the tre- 

 mendous difficulties and dangers amid which 

 any Fox of "civilization" lives and breeds, sure- 

 ly will not ask, as a serious question, "Do Foxes 

 reason.'" Excepting the real lovers of nature, 

 every man's hand, — and firearm also, — is 

 against him. The farmer hunts him for re- 

 venge, the trapper for his pelt, the hunter for 

 sport. And yet, compared with that wonder- 

 fully sharp nose, and those keen eyes and ears, 

 wireless telegraph}' is slow and uncertain. 

 Were it not so, there would not be today one 

 living Red or Gray Fox this side of the Adiron- 

 dack wilderness ; but as it is, both those spe- 

 cies joyously live and breed, even up to the 

 very boundaries of the most populous city of 

 America. 



VIRGINIA OPOSSUMS. 



In the distribution of the Marsupials, or 

 mammals with abdominal pouches for their 

 young. Nature almost overlooked North Amer- 

 ica ! We have only the Opossum, nocturnal, 

 sly, and so unobtrusive that in the nortliern 

 United States it has reduced self-effacement to 

 an exact science. 



Some naturalists suppose that the most re- 

 markable thing about this animal is its pouch; 



