V) 
PREFACE. 
At the commencement of the Survey, the services of an eminent naturalist, 
Mr. Abraham Halsey, of New-York, were engaged for the department of zoo¬ 
logy ; but before he had entered upon its duties, other engagements and occupa¬ 
tions demanded his attention, and he resigned his office. We may be permitted 
to express our regret that circumstances should have prevented him from under¬ 
taking a task, which could not have been committed to an abler hand. 
In the execution of this part of the work, I have to acknowledge my obliga¬ 
tions to Maj. Le Conte, for the valuable hints he has suggested, and the oppor¬ 
tunities which he has afforded of examining his drawings, manuscripts and spe¬ 
cimens. To Dr. Emmons, of the geological department of the Survey, I am 
obliged for his numerous specimens and communications. His many sterling 
qualities can scarcely be appreciated, except by those who, like myself, have 
been the companion of his journies through the uninhabited and as yet unknown 
forests of the northern district. To Prof. Hall, also of the Survey, I am indebted 
for several specimens, and for valuable communications on the zoology of the 
State. Mr. J. G. Bell and Mr. W. Cooper of New-York, Dr. Harlan of Phila¬ 
delphia, and the Rev. Mr. Linsley of Elmwood Place, Connecticut, have also in 
various ways facilitated my inquiries. I must also record my obligations to the 
Lyceum of Natural History of New-York, for the opportunities which their 
valuable collection has afforded me of comparison and description. 
Having thus briefly adverted to the sources of information, in connection more 
especially with the Mammalia of the State, it may be deemed proper to give a 
concise sketch of the region whose animals we have undertaken to describe. 
New-York, one of the twenty-six States of the North American Confederacy, 
lies wholly within the temperate zone. Its figure may be compared to that of 
an irregular triangle, with its apex touching the Atlantic, and one of its sides 
bounded by two of the great inland seas, and by their outlet to the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence. Its connection with the Atlantic is extended easterly one hundred 
and forty miles, by a low sandy spur called Long Island. Including this easterly 
prolongation, the State of New-York may be said to extend through eight de¬ 
grees of longitude, and to be included between 40° 30' and 45° of north latitude. 
It contains more than 46,000 square miles, a surface larger in extent than that 
contained in Poland or Scotland, or Naples and Sicily ; three times larger than 
the Swiss Confederacy, and nearly equal in extent to that of England. Although 
situated within the same parallels of latitude which include the greater part of 
