NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



307 



greatest height in Green Mountain, 

 (now Cadillac Mountain), which has an 

 elevation of 1532 ft. 



Eastward the coast line has now 

 become especially jagged, with numer- 

 ous long narrow bays and hosts of 

 islands with bold shores, often with 

 high sea cliffs on the southern and 

 eastern sides. 



Seguin Island off the mouth of the 

 Kennebec River, was formerly well 

 covered with spruce and fir, but for a 

 long time has been nearly destitute of 

 trees, through destruction by the spruce- 

 bud worm. The Georges islands and 

 Monhegan about 20 mi. eastward from 

 Seguin (already mentioned), are rather 

 large, very rugged, and well clothed 

 with a spruce forest. Though the for- 

 ests of the Georges islands are probably 

 second growth, they are now old and 

 present very natural conditions. These 

 islands and their small satellites afford 

 breeding grounds for herons, gulls, terns, 

 petrels, black guillemots, ravens and 

 ospreys. 



The Matinicus group of eight islands 

 form the outermost group of the state, 

 being about 15 mi. from the nearest 

 point of the mainland. Two of these 

 are still clothed with goodly sized for- 

 ests, chiefly of spruce, while another 

 has recently lost a similar forest growth, 

 probably through the ravages of the 

 spruce bud worm (Tortrix). These 

 outer islands, when once denuded of 

 the last vestiges of the descendants of 

 their primitive forests, seldom or never 

 are reforested owing to the grazing of 

 sheep, and the strong winds which sweep 

 them at all seasons of the year. In this 

 group are to be found such northern 

 plants as Polygonum allocarpum, sea- 

 beach sandwort (Arenaria peploides), 

 roseroot (Sedum roseum), crow-berry 

 (Empetrum nigrum), broom crow-berry 

 (Corema Conradii) and sea lungwort 

 (Mertensia maritima). Their principal 

 birds are black guillemots, gulls, terns, 

 petrels, and formerly a few puffins and 

 eider ducks. Mount Desert Island is 

 the largest island of the state. It is 

 remarkable for its collection of moun- 



tains or great hills, its lakes and deep 

 vales, its great fjord e.xtending 3 mi. 

 inland between the mountains. It con- 

 tains the Lafayette National Park. 



Great Wass Island, Roques Island and 

 Cross Island, to the eastward, with a 

 few small satellites tenninates the 

 series of islands ranging along the 

 southern border of the state. Some 

 of these Islands are destitute of trees, 

 part having been treeless from the 

 beginning of our histor>-, while others 

 have become so through the work of 

 man or destructive insects within recent 

 times. Though composed chiefly of 

 rocks they are usually covered with 

 glacial gravel and often with beds of 

 dry peat as much as 3 ft. deep. 



These treeless islands are the natural 

 breeding places of terns, which occupy 

 them, sharing these places with spotted 

 sandpipers and savannah sparrows. By 

 far the greater number are well clothed 

 with red and white spruce {Picea rubra 

 and P. canadensis), with balsam fir 

 (Abies balsamea). By this means a 

 belt of decidedly coniferous forest life 

 is carried southwestward to Cape 

 Elizabeth. Following this insular 

 spruce belt to that cape, such birds as 

 olive-sided flycatchers, red crossbills, 

 juncos, white-throated sparrows, mj^rtle 

 and magnolia warblers, with golden 

 crowned kinglets are to be found 

 breeding. 



On the other hand a narrow belt of 

 deciduous forest species follows the 

 shores of the mainland eastward to the 

 Kennebec River, with red pine {Pimis 

 resinosa), red cedar (Juniperus vir- 

 giniana), che.stnut {Cnstanea dentata), 

 red and white oak {Qxiercus rubra and 

 Q. alba), white hickory {Carya alba), 

 and black or sour gum (Nyssa sylvatica) 

 as characteristic or frequent species, 

 with such birds as whippoorwills, field 

 sparrows, towhees, indigo birds, brown 

 thrashers and catbirds. Arms of this 

 belt are carried well up the river valleys. 



4. The interior 



Starting again at Kittery Point and 

 proceeding northward to the foothills 



