forest and stream. 
[Sept. 2, 190^. 
isR' 
place. Half of the lot belonged to the State. For many 
years it was called the "State lot” — fifteen or twenty 
years that I know of. For the ones who wish to know 
just where this State land is| according to the map, it 
may be said that it is described in the “List of Lands in 
the Forest Preserve, 1901,” published by the Forest, Fish 
and Game Commission of New' York, as follows: 
“Herkimer County, Towm of Ohio, Remsenburg Pat- 
ent, Lot 79. Sub. 3, per map of Stephen, Smith 2d, in 
partition suit of Mary Shearn vs. Nicholas McIntosh. 
Mortgage, 100 acres.” 
The Adirondack map, published by the Forest Commis- 
sion in 1902, shows this bit of land printed in red ink, 
denoting that it is State land. 
A year ago, I was told at Northw'ood, that the wood 
alcohol man there was “going to buy that land.” I said 
I didn’t think it was possible, because the State Consti- 
tution amendment forbids the sale of State lands to indi- 
viduals or corporations. 
“Well, you know what money will do in politics,” w'as 
the pessimistic answ'er. 
This year, through the kindness of Secretary Whish, 
of the Forest Commission, I received the new State map 
of the State lands in (he Adirondack region. I recalled 
the conveiasation with the North ivood w'oodsman, and on 
looking at the lot No. 79 I found that it was not red in 
the eastern half of the land, which had been State prop- 
ertv so long. 
The boast of the’ man looking for hardwood to ram 
into the retorts seemed to have come only too true. How- 
ever, I had hopes that perhaps it was a typographical 
error, and wrote forthw'ith- to Secretary Whish, of the 
Forest Commission, asking “How about it?” 
Secretary Whish, who is always glad to^ answ'er ques- 
tions, especially when they relate to the Adirondacks or 
Catskills, wrote back immediately: 
“He (Superintendent Fox, of the Forests) says in ref- 
erence to the old Hatter place. Lot 79, Remsenburg Pat- 
tent, that the State Land Board sold it to the Finch 
Chemical Company without consulting the Commission. 
In former reports, he says, he had protested against such 
acts but without apparent success.” 
Evidently the State Land Board has committed the out- 
rage against which protested hundred of thousands of 
voters who put in the Constitution an amendment for- 
bidding the sale of land in the forest preserve. Flere is 
a case where State lands are alleged to have been sold 
10 a private corporation, those lands being a part of the 
Forest Preserve for the integrity and maintenance of 
w’hich public sentiment is overwhelmingly favorable. 
People wanted the forest lands reserved to maintain the 
water supply, to preserve the game, and, most of all, to 
keep it open for the public health and pleasure. And yet, 
right here is a case where forest land, with hardwood 
upon it. was sold to a company engaged in making wood 
alcohol and charcoal, the most destructive thing to forest 
lands, next to fire and the water overflow. 
Then I compared the map of 1902 with the map of 1905. 
I was prepared to find land which was once “red” State 
land, but which now' seems to have slipped through the 
fingers of the State Land Board into “w'hite” or private 
ground. Anyone can compare tlie two maps if he wishes. 
There are many places where State land appears to have 
become private. I will point out one more of them only. 
It is up to the State authorities to explain how it is that 
this thing is so, and it is up to the societies which have 
the best interests of the State at heart to put their law- 
yers on the trail of the men who have State land in their 
])ossession, liy virtue of their office, or otherwise. 
No lake in the Adirondacks is more famous than Am- 
persand Pond. It has been frequently described by men 
of lesser strength who fished in it. But the best writers 
about the Adirondacks have told of it, and its beauties are 
told of in classic tales of the mountains. If any lake in 
the Adirondacks should be left open to the public this one 
ought to be. 
It is in the town of Harrietston, Franklin county, and 
is located in the extreme north end of township 27. Ac- 
cording to the map of 1902 the northeast quarter of town- 
ship 27 belongs to the State. There is a little block of 
land in the northwest corner of the township, also State 
land. Part of the land around Ampersand Pond is 
“w'hite,” or private. But the south and southwest and 
w'est sides of the lake border on “red,” or State lands. 
Due south, from the lake is a large, roughly triangular 
piece of State land, bounded by the meanderings of the 
mid-stream of Ward’s Brook. This triangular piece of 
land joined the northeast fourth of the township, which 
is all State land. 
The map of 1905 shows a beautiful piece of work of 
the surveying kind — if the map is any criterion. All the' 
triangle of State land has become “white” — private 
ground. The block of land to the southwest and west of 
Ampersand Pond has been shoved due west against 
Torytiship 26. White Lily Pond (the other “Ampersand 
Pond”:) . has been shoved down from the State land of 
Township 24. By this neat little bit of business Amper- 
sand Pond becomes a body of water completely, sur- 
rounded by “white” land. That is to say, it is now a 
fact, according to the reckonings of common people, that 
Ampersand and White Lily Pond are “preserved” from 
the public. 
If any act of the State Land Board, or whatever board 
is responsible for this change in the map, should be inves- . 
tigated, this one should be. It looks to me as though the 
most noted of Adirondack ponds had been juggled out of 
the hands of the people into those of some private 
outfit. 1 
It is probable that excuses of various sorts will be 
offered for the changes. In looking up the description of 
the Ampersand Pond lands one finds that the map of 1902 ' 
was evidently wrong as regards the exact location of the 
land. Nevertheless the description of- the land as it ap- 
pears in the “List of Lands in the Forest Preserve” states ; 
distinctly that State land is bounded on one side by ,, 
“Ampersand Pond or lake.” 
“Col. W. F. Fox says he has protested against such 
acts in former reports.” For time out of mind Colonel ' 
Fox has been trying to get things so fixed that “judicious 
lumbering” could be carried out on State lands. Efforts 
have also been made to have things so fixed that State 
lands could be exchanged for private lands elsewhere. 
Evidently things have been so fixed that the best parts of : 
the Adirondacks can be reverted to the ownership of pri- 
vate individuals or corporations, while Colonel Fox 
genially and gently “protests in his reports.” The only 
reports of Colonel Fox that I have ever seen were beau- ’ 
tiful things said about the Adirondack lumber industry, ■ 
and signs posted con.spicuously on stumps saying “Look 
Out For Fire.” 
It is per’fectly evident that people who care to have the 
Adirondacks preserved for public health and public profit 
and public pleasure have something else to look out for ^ 
besides “Fire.” Raymond S. Spears. 
Lm I > F/ 1 Lf , N Y. , Aug. 24. 
Bears of New York City. 
Since those ancient days when the youthful David, 
guarding his father’s flocks, slew a lion and a bear, and 
that other occasion when forty and two of the juvenile 
children of Beth-el were torn, by two she bears at the 
request of the choleric, but no doubt kindly matured. 
Prophet Elijah, bears have always had a very great inter- 
est for children, whether of lesser or of larger growth. 
It would hardly be supposed that bears, big, ferocious 
and numerous, are to- be found in New York city, mixed 
up with a population of Americans, Europeans, Africans 
and Asians, gathered from the four quarters of the 
globe, but that is the fact. Flere in New York we have 
what is perhaps the larg;est collection of living bears in 
the whole world, and certainly the best shown collection. 
This is found at the park of the New York Zoological 
Society in the Bronx, where are now to^ be_ seen no less 
than thirteen species, comprising thirty-six individuals. 
Bears are found all over the world, south, as well as 
north, though they do' not seem to be abundant in the 
tropics. The writers of classical antiquity mention bears 
from Africa, Herodotus speaking of Libyan bears,, and 
Pliny of those of Numidia. However, up to^ the present 
time no bear is known from Africa, although ;in_ the 
mountains of Abyssinia there is an unidentified animal 
which may belong to this family. Nor are there any 
bears in Australia, that land of queer mammals, where, 
to be sure, we should not expect to find them. How'- 
ever, in Asia, Europe, and North America, bears are 
common enough. They are found also in South America 
among the high mountains of Chili, as well as in the 
great island of Borneo. 
The biggest bear that we know of ia-pne of the great 
brown bears found in Alaska. He is said to be the 
largest carnivorous mammal in the world. The polar 
bear, confined of course to arctic regions, makes a very 
good second. He is truly carnivorous and is much 
longer, slimmer and generally more adapted for life in 
the water than his heavier relatives of Alaska which live 
on a mixed diet. of vegetables and fish. The tiniest bear 
in the world is the Malayan sun bear, which is short- 
haired and stands hardly taller than a big fox terrier. 
It has, however, a big, strong head, and feet armed with 
claws, which, for the size of the animal, are enormous, 
and one might easily imagine that it would make a very 
unpleasant antagonist for an unarmed man. 
Though of course the bears are carnivors, they are 
obviously very different from dogs and cats. While the 
dcgs and cats walk on their toes, the bear plants the 
whole sole of the foot on the ground. This seems to give 
him a clumsy motion, but it must not be thought from 
that that he is not swift of foot. On the contrary, many 
a man has learned that his saddle horse in which he 
took considerable pride was not swift enough to over- 
take a bear, and some, to their sorrow, have learned that 
their horses were not swift enough to get away from a 
bear. . , , , 
If the feet and methods of locomotion of the bear are 
unlike those of the dog and the cat, so also are his teeth. 
While the dental formula of the bear is the same that it 
is in the dog, there is a great difference in the character 
of the teeth; this is especially true of the molars, which 
in the dogs and cats are adapted for the division of flesh ; 
that is to .say, certain of the molars possess sharp cutting 
edges, which passing by the similar cutting edges of 
th^ molars in the other jaw, divide the food, which is 
flesh. In the bears, on the other hand, the same teeth are 
much more flat, broader and adapted for crushing rather 
than for cutting food. Moreover, the lower jaw of the bear 
is articulated to its skull in such a manner as to pemiit 
of a sidewise motion adapted to the grinding up of food. 
This is hardly needed in the true carnivors, who require 
only to tear their food into fragments small enough to be 
.swallowed and then bolt it. 
The bear is of course a vegetarian. He eats roots, ber- 
ries, fruit, grass, insects and such small creatures as he 
can catch or dig out of their burrows — chiefly mice, 
ground squirrels and perhaps woodchucks. Rarely he 
kills the larger animals, but it must be only rarely. 
The polar bear, however, is an exception to this rule. 
It lives in a country where roots and berries are scarce, 
and during by far the greater portion of the year it must 
depend for subsistence on the animals which it kills. 
The mental characteristics of the bear are always in- 
teresting. In its wild state it is characterized by ex- 
treme keenness of hearing and smell, and by ex- 
traordinary alertness and caution. Twenty-five or thirty 
years ago- the bear still retained the impression that he 
was the monarch' of the American woods or fields. He 
was then often found in the open at various times dur- 
ing the day, busy about his ordinary avocations. But 
since that time constant pursuit has made the animal so 
extraordinarily cautious, that it rarely ventures out dur- 
ing the daylight, except in districts most remote and 
where it has not been at all hunted. 
In captivity the bear is easily tamed, and usually 
affectionate. It is ready in learning tricks, but, like all 
wild animals, it may be subject to panic frights, during 
which it may possibly use its great strength to the injury 
of the human being who has to- do with it. Nevertheless 
cases of this kind occur very rarely, and while a bear 
is hardly to be recommended as a pet, there is neverthe- 
less much pleasure got out of the occupation of watching 
and studying one. 
As migltL be supposed, the Zoological Society’s collec- 
tion is rich in American bears, no less than sixteen of 
the specimens being natives of this continent. ; There 
are tw'o specimens of the Kadiak bear, supposed to be 
U. ■middendorfU; one Peninsular bear (U. merriami), 
from the Alaska Peninsula; four grizzly bears from 
Colorado, southern Alaska, Wyoming and Mexico, and 
nine bears of the black bear type, representing New York, 
Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, Ontario, Canada, Wis- 
consin, Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming. Besides these, 
are two splendid polar, bears, which although from Nova 
Zembla, may fairly be called American, since the species 
is found throughout the Arctic of the old world and the 
new. 
From the old world there are eight species, repre- 
sented by eighteen individuals. Of these, two Syrian bears 
from Asiatic Turkey represent the bears of Scripture 
already referred to. This species is still found in the 
mountains of Palestine, and though not now very 
numerous, is still held in high fespect there. In the time 
of the Crusades, bears were numerous in Palestine, and 
as they w.ere never interfered; with, were very bold. 
They are said to have frequently killed human beings for 
food, and there , is a record ; of one •vvhich, while trying 
to carry off a woodcutter during the time of the siege of 
Antioch, seriously wounded Geoffrey of Bouillon, who 
went to the woodcutter’s defense. 
The brown bear of Europe is another well-known old 
world form, represented here by two specimens. It is 
widely distributed over northern Europe and Asia, but 
of course has been exterminated in many localities. In i| 
the time of the Romans it was still found in Britain, 
whence it was taken to Rome for the sports of the 
amphitheater. In northern Europe it is still hunted and i 
a considerable number are killed each year. There are 
many shooting territories still for rent in central and 1 
northern Europe where bears may be had; — in some cases ] 
to the number of fifteen or twenty in a season. This is 
the form of bear commonly taken about over the country ; 
by wandering Italians. The bears are said to be easily ; 
tamed, but now and then they turn upon the keeper and : 
do some damage. ' 
Far less well known are certain species from the fur- ' 
ther East, such as the hairy-eared hear (U. piscator) from ■ 
northwestern Mongolia, the Himalayan black bear ( U. ' 
torquatus) from Japan, the Japanese bear (U. japonicus) 
from Japan, the Yezo bear {U. ferox) from Yezo, Japan,' 
and the sloth bear {U. labiatus) from India. This is a, 
species of the far East, and one of its names is given on ' 
account of the large and well-haired ears. On account ofi 
its pale color, which is light brown, fawn or nearly 
white, it is sometimes called the Isabella bear. 
The Himalayan bear is a curious and handsome species. ■ 
It is a small animal, and has very long hair on the side i 
of the jaw and neck — giving the effect of a ruff about: 
the neck— very large ears and a chin which is white. The , 
range of the species until vrithin the past few years has ■ 
been considered somewhat southern, ranging north from 
eastern Persia, but it has lately been found, in northern ' 
Japan. 
The Japanese bear is a very small animal, being not ' 
much larger than the sun bear. It is shy, timid and gen- 
erally carries the impression of being greatly abused 
and injured. 
Far better known than any of these is the sloth bear: 
of India, which has long been hunted by the shikarees ' 
of that country, and which is often tamed and led about, 
by strolling jugglers. It is a very mild and gentle ani-, 
mal, readily becomes attached to its master, and learns ! 
to perform some tricks. The sloth bear is black in, 
color, with very long shaggy hair, but on the breast and on' 
the face there is some more or less clear white. It has., 
very long hooked claws and no incisor teeth. These 
teeth are lost at a very early age, and all trace of them 
disappears. For this reason the zoological position of 
the sloth bears was for a time uncertain, and. some 
naturalists even called it a sloth. 
Perhaps the most curious and quaint among all the 
bears is the sun bear, called in parts of India bruang. Inj 
appearance it is so grotesque as to be really attractive,' 
and when tamed it becomes a very capital pet. In his 
great work on the “Mammals of India” Dr. Jerdon says:. 
“The sun bear is generally found at a considerable eleva-, 
tion, 9,000 to 12,000 feet and often close to the snow ; but' 
in winter it descends to 5,000, and even lower sometimes. 
It lives chiefly on fruits and roots, apricots, walnuts, 
apples, currants, etc., also on several grains, barley,' 
Indian corn, buckwheat, etc. ; and in winter chiefly on 
various acorns, climbing the oak trees and breaking down 
the branches. They are very fond of honey. Now and; 
then they will kill sheep, goats, etc., thus occasionally eat-! 
ing flesh. This bear has bad eyesight, but great power 
of smell, and if approached from windward is sure to’ 
take alarm. A wounded bear will sometimes show fight,, 
but in general it tries to escape. It is said sometimes to' 
roll itself into the form of a ball, and then roll dowp 
