°895 J Mackay, Terns of Mtiskeget Island. 'I'l 



group of which Nantucket and Tuckernuck are a part. Its first 

 recorded transfer that I am aware of, subsequent to the original 

 deed of Lord SterUng in 1641, to Thomas Mayhew and his son 

 Thomas, is -in an old deed dated July 20, 1692, wherein it is 

 described as " Mooskei-a-kit, the westernmost of the islands 

 commonly called Sturgeon Islands," and conveyed by Matthew 

 Mayhew of Martha's Vineyard to six men. These, on February 

 20, 1693, deeded one-seventh to still another, making him an equal 

 partner, he having originally joined them in the purchase, but his 

 name does not appear in the deed from Mayhew. Each had equal 

 undivided rights in the whole island. This undivided condition 

 exists up to the present time. Two hundred years has, however, 

 so obUterated its ownership that the recorded evidence of title at 

 this time only shows three twenty-eighths. Two of these are the 

 property of a certain shooting club, the other belongs to the writer. 



The island is scarcely more than a large sand shoal, portions of 

 which are annually changing, owing to the action of the ocean, 

 which some years ago severed it in two places on the south and 

 west sides, thus forming two other small islands (Adams and South 

 Point Island or Shoal) in addition to the present main island called 

 Muskeget. These all come under the head of and are a part of 

 Muskeget Island. The adjacent waters are very shallow, in a 

 portion of which the eel-grass {Zostera marina) grows abundantly, 

 where the pipe fish {Siphonostoma ficsciwi) makes its habitat, and 

 on which the Terns depend to a considerable extent for food. 

 According to Prof. N. S. Shaler (Geology of Nantucket) Muskeget 

 Island is a postglacial deposit, being composed entirely of sand. 

 Consequently there is but little verdure, running ivy {Rhus radi- 

 cans) and sand reed or beach grass (Ammophila anmdinacea) 

 predominating. Here and there are clumps of beach plum bushes 

 (Pnmus maritima), which constitute the loftiest foliage of the 

 island. Mosses and lichens are noticeable, — Usnea barhata, 

 Cladoiiia rangiferina, Cladojiia boryi, and Cladonia cristatella} 



The main island of Muskeget runs east by south and west by 

 north. It is about one mile and a quarter long (not including the 



' I am indebted to Miss M. E. Carter of the Boston Society of Natural History 

 for the identification of the above. 



