94 JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAI, SOCIETY. 



recently, I took a peep at the window and found the last year's nest 

 undisturbed. At my approach, the bird flew from a tree very near 

 the camp, revealing her home this year. 



An Ornithological Reconnoissance of Monhegan 



Island. 



By Francis H. Ai.i.kn. 



I spent the week from May 30th to June 6th of this year at 

 Monhegan Island, making rather careful observations of the bird 

 population there. Monhegan, as I suppose most Maine ornitholo- 

 gists know, lies about eleven miles out to sea off Pemaquid Point, 

 Lincoln County, in latitude 43° 46' north. It is a small, rocky island, 

 about a mile and five-eighths long by five-eighths of a mile wide, 

 with a shore line of almost precipitous cliffs and headlands on the 

 eastern side. The highest of these promontories, White Head, is 

 said to be one hundred and sixty feet high, and two others, Black 

 Head and Burnt Head, are said to be one hundred and forty feet 

 each. The entire island has a very picturesque configuration, being 

 broken up into rounded or abrupt rocky hills with frequent deep 

 gullies in their outer slopes. 



The interior is chiefly covered with woods of red and white 

 spruce and balsam fir, mostly of rather low growth, though at one 

 place the trees rise to quite a respectable height. Much of the 

 island is swampy, and in the swamps alder is the principal growth. 

 There are scattered trees of yellow and paper birch, mountain ash, 

 and striped maple, but the spruces and firs and the alders are the 

 only extensive growths. Along the eastern shore behind the rocky 

 headlands, and on the western side sloping down more nearly to the 

 sea level, are grassy pasture lands, formerly fed upon by sheep, and 

 still comparatively free from the encroachments of the woods. On 

 their edges, just above the rocks, the beach pea grows abundantly, 

 and the creeping juniper, or shrubby red cedar {Junipcrus Sadina), 



