Birds of The Palisades Interstate Park 
39 
zone of trees and thicket encircles the mountain’s base below the 
roadway along the entire frontage of the mountain, rising as a 
background of the boat landing grounds also, and forms a very 
attractive covert for bird activities. This lower zone of vegetation 
is really a continuation of the mountain’s wooded base, separated 
from the upper hillside by the terraced embankment of the Park 
thoroughfare. The landing station grounds consist of the open 
area leading between natural wooded rock ridges, and the back- 
ground zone of trees and bushes below the Inn lawn. 
Between Bear Mountain and the river, contiguous to the lawn 
at the rear of the Inn, is Hessian Lake, a beautiful mountain pond 
of about three miles in circumference. The slopes surrounding it 
are forested down to the water’s edge, and its shores form a con- 
tinuous' sheltered margin frequented by the birds of the adjacent 
woods (Fig. 16). 
Fig. 16. Hessian Lake, at Bear Mountain, showing the surrounding forest. 
