it may seem to those who are accustomed to hear only of the wealth, the refinement, and the advanced civilization of the “Empire State,” there is embraced in this northern district a great tract of a thousand square miles, lying in loneliness, fresh as it came from the hand of God, untouched, and almost unvisited by man. It is clad with forests of great and majestic beauty, echoing only the sigh of the tempest, the screams of the untamed dwellers in its wilds, and now and then the rifle of the hunter, who there finds game, such as in long gone times the red men loved to chase. It is thickly overspread with lakes, embosomed in mountains, now lying calmly and smilingly beneath the sun, and the next hour lashed into frowns, when “The tempest shooteth, from the steep, The shadow of its coming.” Travelers who would wander through it, must provide themselves with guides, and trust to hunting and chance for food and lodging. No one _lives_ there—the whole is one vast, solitary wilderness, untouched by man—lying in its own majesty—unconscious even that the foot of the adventurous Genoese has been set upon the continent. “Still this great solitude is quick with life; Myriads of insects, gaudy as the flowers They flutter over, gentle quadrupeds, And birds that scarce have learned the fear of man, Are here, and sliding reptiles of the ground, Startlingly beautiful.” This vast wild region is inhabited by many animals that are rarely found in any other portion of the State. The bear, the moose, the panther, the deer, and most fur-bearing animals, make their homes among its mountains. Arctic birds, too, that are never known farther south, are seen in abundance. The whole district covers an area of about six thousand square miles. The western district is eminent for its fertility and beauty, and has also a high degree of zoological interest. The number of quadrupeds enumerated in the report, as found within the State, is something more than one hundred. Each of these is scientifically and fully described. Included in the volume are a great number of illustrations, taken with the greatest care from the living animals or the best specimens that could be found. The real colors are preserved, and in every case the relative size is indicated. The outlines, for the purpose of accuracy, were always taken with a camera lucida, and the illustrations, drawn by Hill, were lithographed by Endicott.