X 
PREFACE. 
Cedar. We find in this district many of the fur-bearing animals, such as the 
Sable, the Fisher, and the Beaver. Here too roam the Moose, the Wolverine, 
and others now only found in high northern latitudes. It also forms the southern 
limits of the migration of many arctic birds; and we accordingly meet here with 
the Canada Jay and Spruce Grouse, the Swan, the Raven and the Arctic Wood- 
3. The Hudson Valley District , includes those counties watered by the River 
Hudson and its tributaries. Its chief tributary, the Mohawk, after a course of 
about one hundred and forty miles, enters the Hudson from the west, at the dis¬ 
tance of one hundred and sixty miles from its entrance into the ocean. The 
shape of this district is of course modified by the length and direction of the 
Mohawk river, and bears some resemblance to the letter r j inverted. Smaller 
than either of the two preceding, it is nevertheless of much zoological interest. 
At its upper portion, it is connected with the Northern district, and contains many 
animals in common with the States bordering on the eastern margin. Along its 
western border, it becomes elevated into high ranges of mountains, called the 
Kaaterskills, some of which attain an elevation of nearly four thousand feet, 
containing deer, wolves, panthers and bears. By the valley of the Mohawk, it 
is zoologically connected with the Western district; and this connection is be¬ 
coming daily more obvious, by the great artificial water channels which reflect so 
much honor on the zeal and enterprise of her citizens. Thus the Soft-shelled 
Turtle and Rock Bass of Lake Erie is now found in the Hudson; in the same 
way that the Yellow Perch, the Muskallonge, and others peculiar to the great 
lakes, have, by means of the Ohio canal, found their way into the Mississippi 
through the Ohio. On the south it is connected with the Atlantic, and accord¬ 
ingly we find it teeming with the inhabitants of the ocean. On the other hand, 
the Hudson river appears to form a natural geographic limit to the extension of 
some species, at least in any considerable numbers. Thus, the Opossum of the 
South rarely, if ever, outsteps this boundary; among reptiles, the Chain Snake 
and Brown Swift, and the Buzzard and many other species among the birds. 
From the north also this river appears to be a barrier to their progress south; 
but these will be more fully detailed in the course of the following pages. 
4. The Atlantic District comprises Long Island, with a medium breadth of ten 
miles, extending in a northeasterly direction one hundred and fifty miles. Its in¬ 
sular position influences its climate, and we accordingly find a great difference 
