'SSs-] Recent Litcvattcre. C I 



The present instalment of Dr. Merriam's paper does not extend to 

 birds ; hence it wovild hardly come within our legitimate field of criticism 

 were it not that its introductory portion has a direct bearing on everything 

 that is to follow. Chapter i is divided into seven sections, under which 

 the location and boundaries, geological history, topography, climate, gen- 

 eral features, botany, and faunal position of the region are fullj' and very 

 ably treated. 



"The Adirondacks proper, or the area to which the subject-matter of this 

 paper is restricted, can be stated, with sufficient exactness, to lie between 

 parallels 43° 15' and 44° 45' north latitude, hence measuring about an hun- 

 dred and twenty miles (193. 121 metres) in a north and south direction. 

 The transverse di'ameter of the region is approximately of equal extent." 

 .... "From a geological standpoint the Adirondacks are interesting as 

 constituting one of the few islands that rose above the level of the mighty 

 Continental sea previous to Paleozoic time." Their topography "is diver- 

 sified, and in some respects peculiar. The mountains and short ranges of 

 high hills have no regular trend, and conform to no definite axis. They 

 are in no sense a chain of mountains, .... but, on the contrary, consist of 

 more or less irregular groups, isolated peaks, short ranges, and 'hog- 

 backs,' scattered over the entire area — the highest to the eastward 



Nearly thirty peaks exceed four thousand feet (1,219.20 metres) in height, 

 several are about five thousand (1,524 metres), and one, Mt. Marcy, 

 attains an altitude of five thousand three hundred and forty-four feet 

 (1,628.851 metres)." 



The section relating to general features is especially full and interesting. 

 The mountain tops, valleys, burnt tracts, beaver meadows, lake shores, 

 and forest depths are treated in turn, and with a touch that shows the 

 author's familiarity with the scenes of which he writes. The following 

 seems to us one of the best of his descriptive passages : — 



"Here is a sparkling trout stream, perhaps the outlet of a mountain 

 lake ; let us follow its winding course through yonder thicket of alders. 

 Working our way through the tangled bushes we soon emerge into the 

 open grassy bottom of one of the most beautiful and interesting of na- 

 ture's many adornments — a Beaver meadow. Here, less than a century 

 ago, might have been heard the splash and seen the hut of the sagacious 

 Beaver. But, like the Moose that once roamed these mighty forests, they 

 have, excepting a few isolated individuals, been exterminated or driven 

 beyond our borders, till now these green meadows, with occasionally the 

 buried ruin of an ancient dam, are about all that remain to remind us of 

 the former existence here of one of the most curious, interesting, and 

 typical of North American mammals. 



"The dam has long since disappeared, and as it gave way the pond 

 again became a narrow stream, spreading its way through the broad 

 muddy bottom, now verdant with marsh grasses that spring from a thick 

 bed of elastic Sphag7mm. Upon this moist level now stand scattered 

 clumps of feathery tamaracks; and here and thei-e over the uniform 

 light green of the meadow rise, in marked contrast, the odd-looking Blue 



