38 
The New York State College of Forestry 
THE BIRDS OF THE VICINITY OF BEAR MOUNTAIN 
Description of the Region. Bear Mountain is a conspicuous 
landmark of the Hudson Highlands, occupying a commanding site 
on the west shore of the Hudson, at the apex of a triangle formed 
by imaginary lines joining it with Iona Island and Fort Mont- 
gomery, the river constituting the base line. Across the river 
opposite Bear Mountain lies Anthony’s Nose, a rugged, iron-gray 
headland. Between Bear Mountain and the river is a leveled area, 
of artificial construction (Fig. 1), and a natural depression occu- 
pied by Hessian Lake. Between Bear Mountain and Iona Island 
there extends a large marsh of cat-tails and swamp grasses. The 
mountain, with the adjacent river shore line, the landward por- 
tion of the marsh, the leveled area, and Hessian Lake shore, com- 
prise the Bear Mountain locality of the region under consideration. 
This mountain is a fair example of the Park heights in gen- 
eral, ' especially of those exceeding twelve hundred feet in alti- 
tude, and it may be regarded as a type in its mass, its physical 
contour, its rocky ledges and steep ravines, and its forest cover- 
ing. It attains an altitude of 1314 feet, though its crest has no 
dominating -summit, being principally a lengthened 1 forest ridge 
of outcropping rock, a common kind of mountain formation in 
the Highlands. Along its base above the level lawn and lake 
are numerous trails which intersect the main trail for climbing 
the mountain. The trail for the ascent is well graduated in easy 
zigzags, firm of footing, and clear of obstructions. It begins 
above the road near the eastern end of the office building, and 
leads upward on the eastern slope of the mountain to a view well 
worth the hour spent in making a leisurely ascent. 
There are two general avenues of entrance to the eastern end of 
this section of the Park, one by way of Iona Island, the other by 
the railroad station and boat landing grounds. The approach via 
Iona Island loads across more than a quarter of a mile of marsh 
thick set with cat-tails, reeds, and grasses, and then continues 
along an embanked roadway on the base of the mountain. Below 
the roadway, sloping down to the river water margin, is a zone 
of second growth and underbrush thicket, of varying width. This 
