15 



The number of species of our native quadrupeds, 

 which have been carefully determined, is, at least, 45 ; 

 and of birds more than 160 species have been ascer- 

 tained. 



Our largest native quadruped, the Moose, which 

 grew to the size of an Ox, and whose flesh furnished 

 to our early settlers an excellent substitute for beef, is 

 now, if not entirely exterminated, confined to a small 

 section in the northeast 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 exceedingly rare. The 

 native black Rat (Mus Americanus) has vanished, 

 but the immigrant gray Rat, (Mus decumanus) has r 

 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 thaa 

 half a century, in which, it is 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 with- 

 drawal of some species and the substitution of others, 

 Of some species, which abounded when the country 

 was new, an individual is now seldom, or never seen ; 

 while other species, which were then unknown, have 

 become exceedingly common. The American Cross- 

 bill, (Loxia curcirostria) and red-headed Woodpecker, 

 erythroephalus,) may be mentioned as exam- 



