71 



excellent substitute for beef, is now, if not entirely exterminated, 

 confined to a small section in the north-east corner of the State. 

 The Beaver, whose skin was once an important article of export, 

 is wholly extirpated. The Panther, the Wolf, the Wolverine, 

 the Deer, the Bear in short all the larger species, have been 

 gradually diminishing, and most of the kinds have become exceed- 

 ingly rare. The native black Rat (Mus Americanus) has van- 

 ished but the immigrant gray Rat, (Mus decnmanus] has in 

 some parts of the State, usurped its place, and has become a great 

 nuisance. Yet it is a curious fact that there is. in the north part of 

 the State, an extensive region which has been settled more than 

 half a century, in which, it said, no rats were ever seen. 



In the birds of Vermont, considerable changes have taken place 

 since the settlement of the country, in the number of individuals 

 of the same species at different periods ; and there have probably 

 been also a withdrawal of some species and the substitution of 

 others. Of some species, which abounded when the country was 

 new, an individual is now seldom, or ever seen ; while other spe- 

 cieS; which were then unknown, have been exceedingly common. 

 The American Crossbill, (Loxa curcirostria) and red-headed 

 Woodpecker, (Picas crythrocphalus^) may be mentioned as ex- 

 amples of the former, and the Cliff Swallow, (Hirundo fulva^ 

 of the latter. Forty years ago, as I well remember, the red-headed 

 Woodpecker was one of the most common birds in our forests ; 

 but is now so rare that, while I have traveled extensively over 

 the State, I have hardly seen half a dozen in the last 20 years. 

 On the other hand, I cannot learn that a Cliff Swallow w r as ever 

 seen in Vermont till about the year 1817 ; but they now swarm 

 in hundreds, about the eaves of barns in various parts of the 

 State. 



While the species of the two higher classes of the vertebrata of 

 Vermont are, generally, the same as in the other New England 

 States, the case is quite different in regard to the reptiles and fishes ; 

 so much so, that in reference to these, the Western part of Ver- 

 mont clearly belongs to a different Zoological district from the 

 eastern, and from the other parts of New England. The dividing 

 line between these districts is along the summits of the Green 

 Mountain range, which separate the waters falling into Connecti- 

 cut river from those which are tributary to the St. Lawrence. 

 The reptiles and fishes found in Vermont to the eastward of this 



