THE UNIQUE ISLAND OF MOUNT DESERT 



81 



also are used by foreigners, Indians, and 

 people on the border-line of civilization, 

 of whose loose ammunition no record of 

 amount can be obtained, and great quan- 

 tities of birds are slain by immigrants 

 with cane-guns, snares, nets, bird-lime, 

 etc. The forces of destruction are con- 

 stantly increasing and the need of sanc- 

 tuaries where no shooting will ever be 

 allowed has grown urgent to the last 

 degree. 



the: paths of the great bird migra- 

 tions CONVERGE AT MOUNT DESERT 



The shape and geographical position of 

 the continent of North America is such 

 that during the migration seasons bird-life 

 goes crowding up or down this country's 

 coasts, both Atlantic and Pacific. This is 

 due to the much greater width and vast 

 extent of the continent to the north of us 

 and to the great feeding ground and nat- 

 ural line of travel offered by the shore 

 to both land and water birds upon their 

 flight. 



On the Atlantic coast from the Bay of 

 Fundy southward this effect of concen- 

 tration is particularly great and must in 

 early days, when birds were plentiful, 

 have made it, during the migration sea- 

 sons, a marvelous sight. 



A third great highway of migration 

 flight lies along the Mississippi Valley, 

 and along all three of these great natural 

 routes it is necessary that bird reserva- 

 tions should be established. But exten- 

 sive tracts have been already set aside for 

 this purpose by the government along the 

 Pacific coast, and reservations on a vast 

 scale are now in process of establishment, 

 through private gift, along the Louisiana 

 coast to the westward of the Mississippi 

 mouth. 



It remains for us in the east, where 

 the bird life was once so abundant and 

 the need came earliest, to do like work ; 

 and nowhere is there work of more im- 

 portance to be done, nowhere is the need 

 of the present day so critical. 



The tendency of most migratory birds 

 nesting on the eastern third of the conti- 

 nent is to fly southeastward from their 

 nesting grounds until they reach the coast 

 and then to follow it on southward, 

 guided apparently by prominent land- 



marks spread along the coast, or to strike 

 out presently across the sea to the An- 

 tilles. 



When the autumn frosts come, mi- 

 gratory birds from Greenland, from all 

 the shores of Baflins Bay, from Labra- 

 dor and Newfoundland, from the culti- 

 vated lands of eastern Canada and all the 

 wild interior beyond, pour their dimin- 

 ished legions down toward the Maine 

 coast ; in the springtime they return and 

 spread out northward from it. 



Thus Mount Desert Island, unique in 

 being the only mountainous tract thrust 

 prominently out into the sea, offers an 

 important landmark and admirable rest- 

 ing place for migratory birds of every 

 kind — birds of sea and shore, the useful 

 insect-eating birds of cultivated lands, of 

 woods and gardens, the birds of marsh 

 and meadow lands and inland waters. 



the BIRDS OF AT LEAST EOUR FAUNAE 

 ZONES NOW BREED AT MOUNT DESERT 



The fauna and flora of the coast-line 

 at this point are largely of the Canadian 

 type and its birds are represented here 

 with corresponding fulness. Neverthe- 

 less, a number of Hudsonian plants grow 

 upon the island also and form breeding 

 places for certain birds characteristic of 

 that northern area. This is one of the 

 very few points on the Atlantic coast of 

 the United States where portions of this 

 far northern flora and fauna can be found 

 at all, and it is the southernmost of them 

 all. 



Following the coast up from the west 

 and south, a number of the birds of the 

 Alleghenian and transition zones reach 

 the island also, and we thus find at least 

 four faunal areas represented in summer 

 at this unique spot, while a number of 

 Arctic and other northern birds frequent 

 the region in winter, at which season the 

 Alaskan eagle and the snowy owl appear. 



Remarkable opportunities exist here, 

 accordingly, for inducing birds of many 

 kinds to remain and nest upon the island, 

 where they can be fostered, studied, and 

 protected. For the birds of farm and 

 garden it offers conditions that might 

 readily be made ideal in certain sections. 

 The growing forest cover provides ad- 

 mirable nesting places for all woodland 



