,° 8 ' " J White on Birds of Mackinac Island. 221 



BIRDS OBSERVED ON MACKINAC ISLAND, MICH- 

 IGAN, DURING THE SUMMERS OF 1889, 

 1S90, AND 1 891. 



BY STEWART EDWARD WHITE. 



The island of Mackinac is situated in the straits of the same 

 name between the two peninsulas of Michigan. It is a rocky 

 island surrounded by steep bluffs which recede far enough inland 

 on the southeast side to form a plain of sufficient size to contain 

 the town and a few adjacent meadows. The only cultivated land 

 is at Early's farm, a clearing of about two hundred acres, the 

 major part of which is pasture. The island itself is six miles by 

 three in its widest parts and contains somewhat over twenty-four 

 hundred acres. 



It is nearly completely encircled by a belt of evergreens, 

 varying in width from fifty to several hundred feet, while the 

 middle is occupied by a deciduous growth. Of the evergreens 

 the outer edge is composed chiefly of cedars, while the inside 

 contains balsam firs, hemlocks, and tamaracks. In a few places 

 the hemlocks and firs are found scattered over stony ground free 

 from brush. Both red and white pines occur in scattered clumps. 

 Of the deciduous trees the hard maple is by far the most numer- 

 ous, with many elms, beeches, white birches, and a few oaks, 

 ironwoods, black birches, silver and soft maples. These woods 

 are remarkably free from brush, though this is more than made up 

 for by a large and almost impenetrable thicket of scrub maples, 

 birches, hazels, oaks, hemlocks, and tamaracks. This occupies 

 about two hundred and fifty acres southwest of the centre of the 

 island, and is most fruitful during migrations. 



The island does not offer favorable conditions for the occur- 

 rence of most water birds. The water being deep and the coast 

 line unbroken, little food and shelter is ottered the Ducks; as there 

 is no beach, the shore birds pass by ; the absence of swamps 

 precludes the presence of their inhabitants. 



Owing probably to the small size of the island, and to its 

 location, bird waves were strongly defined and easily observed, 

 and were made an object of especial study the results of which 



