NOTES ON ADIRONDACK MAMMALS. 323 



still inhabiting Quebec and Maine. A photograph of the only set of Adirondack 

 moose antlers of which the writer has knowledge is reproduced herewith by 

 permission of the American Museum of Natural History, where they are now 

 on exhibition. These antlers were the property of the late Hamilton Fish, and 

 belonged to a moose killed about 1855 in this State, one of the last of this species 

 in the Adirondacks. 



The moose can easily be restored to the Adirondacks if a sufficient number — 

 not less than one hundred individuals — be liberated under proper precautions. 

 Sooner or later this will be done, and a very successful beginning has been made 

 through the energy of Mr. Harry V. Radford and the Game Commission of this 

 State. 



Deer. 



The deer of the Adirondacks (Odocoilens virginianus . borcalis) is probably as 

 abundant to-day as at any former period, and bids fair to permanently adapt 

 itself to the quasi-civilization which now prevails in the North Woods. It belongs 

 to the northern variety of the Virginia deer, which embraces all the members of 

 the genus from Pennsylvania north and east. The true type of Virginia deer 

 (Odocoileus virginianus) is found to the south of this subspecies. 



It is a satisfaction to be able to note the entire success of the law prohibiting 

 the hounding of deer, and also the recent change in public sentiment regarding this 

 unsportsmanlike mode of hunting, in spite of the fact that the measure, when first 

 proposed, met with violent opposition from the guides and innkeepers. New York 

 was one of the last States to prohibit the use of hunting dogs, but the protection 

 of game is everywhere becoming increasingly popular. 



About two thousand deer are killed annually in the Adirondacks, and that the 

 species is not deteriorating is proved by the records of weight. In 1904 not less 

 than thirty deer weighed, when dressed, above two hundred and up to two hundred 

 and fifty pounds, certainly full size for the deer of this region. 



Among the smaller carnivora in the Adirondacks we find representatives of 

 four families. 



Raccoon. 



The first of these, the Procyonidae, is represented in the Adirondacks by the 

 raccoon, which is here found close to the northern limit of its range. The raccoon 

 family is widely distributed throughout South and Central America and northward 

 to the fiords of British Columbia. In the extreme northeast it is found on 

 the borders of the Adirondacks, but seldom enters the more thickly wooded 

 portions. 



