NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 13 



who for about eighty years were the sole owners of nearly 

 the whole of the Zoological Park site, the virgin forest was 

 not cut down for firewood or lumber, but was carefully pre- 

 served for posterity. As the legal custodian of this splendid 

 domain of Nature, the Zoological Society is as rapidly as 

 possible going over the entire forest, to arrest decay and 

 death, and take all needed measures for the preservation of 

 the trees. It is safe to say that nowhere else within fifty 

 miles of New York can there be found any more beautiful 

 forests than those in the central and eastern portions of the 

 Park, which, let it be borne in mind, are to be kept open for 

 visitors to wander through at all hours, save those of dark- 

 ness. 



The Rocking Stone, (No. 45), a colossal cube of pinkish 

 granite, poised on one of its angles on a smooth pedestal of 

 rock, is the Zoological Park's most interesting souvenir of 

 the glacial epoch. Across the bare face of the rocky hill 

 in which lies the Crocodile Pool, there are several glacial 

 scratches pointing directly toward the famous bowlder ; and 

 who will say it had no part in making one of themi 



The Rocking Stone stands on a smooth table of granite on 

 the southern shoulder of the hill overlooking the Buffalo 

 Range. Its extreme height is 7 feet 6 inches ; breadth. 10 

 feet 1 inch ; thickness, 8 feet 1 inch, and its weight, as roughly 

 calculated, is 30 tons. A pressure of about 50 lbs. exerted on 

 the most northern angle of the stone causes its apex to swing 

 north and south about two inches. 



