As a naturalist, he would leave Stamford every March, often with his son, Brian, and two daughters, Lois and Cesca, to travel to "the wilderness" of Maine.

Long's books found a large audience and were even issued in schools under the title of The Wood Folk Series.

Long provided many examples, supposedly from his experience, to cast doubt on that prevailing wisdom, suggesting that in fact animals did learn, and each could become individuals within their species.

He also wrote of foxes that rode on the backs of sheep to escape hunters and porcupines curling into balls and rolling down hills.

This came to a head when President Teddy Roosevelt's naturalist adviser, John Burroughs, accused Rev.

Roosevelt wrote "If he stated that he had seen a weasel kill a deer and then carry it to the top of a pine tree, I would not care how many affidavits he produced, because the feat would be mechanically impossible."

Long was trying to sell books to gullible readers with such lies and President Theodore Roosevelt himself had Rev.