Mr. Pierce on the Catskill Mountains. 93 
tains adjacent to the Bristol turnpike and glass manufactory. 
It is deep, containing Pickerel, Trout, Perch, an 
everal streams which have their source in the she 
tains to the westward of this lake, and pass through roman- 
tic ravines, are hme 3 well stored with trout. Fi ive 
which a boy had been introduced twenty feet pe te 
e explo- 
much su sualghcaxieh of iron, alum or coal. Caves of considera- 
ble extent are rarely found except in ee or transi- 
tion limestone, the excavations pene made i in the soft calca- 
the friction of w 
reous fenaie shor 
Panthers, woly es, bears, wild ¢ es abihideer. are oc 
ally seen in the i section of the Catskill ioulitatie, 
but are not so numerous as in the middle region. A Pan- 
ther measuring in length about nine feet, was recently kil- 
led in the southern range; this animal is rarely seen; but 
from its strength size and ferocity, itis regarded with terror 
and considered the most formidable beast of the forest ; their 
color is grey, the head small in proportion, the general form 
indicating agility ; they have been known in ascending a 
ledge or tree, to rise at a leap twenty feet from the ground. 
Of wolves, two varieties inhabit the Catskill mountains; one 
called by hunters the deer wolf, from his habit of pursuing 
deer, for which his light grey hound form adapts him. The 
other of a more clumsy figure with, short legs and large bo- 
dy, more frequently depredates upon flocks under the pro- 
tection of man. Foxes and rabbits are numerous, and white 
hares, martins and pacaehows sometimes seen, squirrels sel- 
om. 
Rattlesnakes fi t the warm sides of the Catskill moun- 
tains, but are rarely observed on the summits or northern 
declivities and ten miles in the interior of the range are nev- 
erseen. They are in general about 4 feet in length—the 
skin of one recently killed near Shues lake was exhibited 
to me; it measured between five and six feet. The color 
of the male is darker than that of the female, they live to the 
age of twelve and fifteen years. 
