Hote5 on Adirondack inanimate 



Witl) Special Reference to tl)e Fctr-^earers. 



By Madison Grant.* 



THE Adirondacks occupy a somewhat unique position in relation to the 

 faunal areas of North America and, being located at the meeting point 

 of two of these life zones, contain an exceptionally varied group of 

 animals. The earliest account of the zoology of this region is found in the 

 "Description of New Netherlands" by Arnoldus Montanus, 1691, which contains 

 some rather startling information and is worth quoting in full, as follows: 



"Lions, whose skins the Indians bring to market, are caught on a high 

 mountain, situated fifteen days journey to the southwest. Here also are many 

 pitch black bears, shy of men, but which when attacked, spring on the hunters; 

 they first stop the wound with a pledget of leaves, and if the hunter, meanwhile 

 take refuge in a tree, climb after and above him, then stick their head between 

 their legs and fall downward. They sleep during winter, lying six weeks on one 

 side and an equal time on the other, sucking their paw. A cripple bush or hollow 

 mountain serves them for a resting place. 



"On the borders of Canada animals are now and again seen somewhat 

 resembling a horse; they have cloven hoofs, shaggy manes, a horn right out of 

 the forehead, a tail like that of the wild hog, black eyes, a stags neck and 

 love the gloomiest wilderness; are shy of each other so that the male never 

 feeds with the female except when they associate for the purposes of increase. 

 Then they lay aside their ferocity; as soon as the rutting season is past, they 

 again not only become wild, but even attack their own. 



"South of New Netherland are found numerous elks, animals which according 

 to Erasmus Stella constitute a middle class between horses and deer. They 

 appear to deserve the Dutch appellation (eelanden) from elende (misery) because 

 they die of the smallest wound however strong they may otherwise be; also 

 because they are frequently affected with epilepsy. They have broad branching 

 horns, a short tail, a shaggy neck, variable hair, according to the difference of 

 the season, wide and long ears, prominent lips, small teeth, a thick hide, which 

 cannot be easily pierced. The females separate from the males when they have 



* Secretary of the New York Zoological Society. 



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