RECORDS VOLUME XI, FEB., 1919. 33 



A VISIT TO MONHEGAN ISLAND, 

 naine, September, 1918, 



BY 



JOHNW. DEWIS, M. D. 



Monhegan Island lies about twelve miles off the 

 coast of Maine. Tourists usually go there by taking the 

 steamer at Boothbay or by going to Thomaston and 

 from there by water down the George's River and 

 across from Port Clyde. I went by train to Thomaston, 

 spending the night there and leaving at six o'clock in 

 the morning by motor boat for the island. It is a ten- 

 mile trip down the river before you reach the coast, 

 niaking, in all, twenty-two miles from Thomaston to 

 Monhegan b}' water. It is well worth while to go this 

 way, for the scenery is attractive, and there is an unusu- 

 ally good opportunity to study water birds on the way 

 down the river. It was foggy on the morning of my 

 trip, and the conditions were not the best for observing 

 birds. 



On the way down, a dozen or more black crowned 

 night herons were seen, a number of osprey fishing, a 

 few gulls, crows, and a cormorant. At Port Clyde, nu- 

 merous herring gulls were all bout. It was interesting 

 to watch the osprey — fish hawks — soaring for fish. I 

 saw two or three dive for them, but I could not be sure 

 whether they were successful or not, although once it 

 seemed that the osprey caught a fish and flew toward 

 the river bank. It is a wonder to me that the bird does 

 not injure itself when it strikes the water. From fifty 

 to a hundred feet in the air, the osprey's body is pre- 

 cipitated and hits the water with great force, the water 

 splashing out on all sides as the bird submerges. Surely, 

 a human body, hitting the water with this force, would 



