THE UNIQUE ISLAND OF MOUNT DESERT 



85 



Ijroadly out along the coast on either side 

 for 50 miles, and its dominating height 

 and greater size make it doubly central. 

 The establishment of the bird reservation 

 now proposed upon this great coast land- 

 mark of the North Atlantic will mean not 

 one important sanctuary only, but ulti- 

 mately a far-reaching chain of island 

 refuges along that coast — protected at 

 little cost by local fishermen — where land 

 as well as water birds may breed in 

 safety. 



Some of these islands already support 

 considerable nesting colonies of terns in 

 several species, of gulls, guillemots, pet- 

 rels — "little Peters" walking on the wa- 

 ter — herons, ospreys, with a few colonies 

 of eider ducks and pufifins. A few of 

 these colonies, on islands lying to the sea- 

 Avard of Mount Desert, are now guarded 

 by the Associated Audubon Societies, but 

 speedy protection only can preserve the 

 others from extinction. 



The Mount Desert reservation, with 

 its associated island sanctuaries, could not 

 long remain an isolated work of bird pro- 

 tection on this great eastern highway of 

 migration, but would form the first of a 

 series of permanent bird refuges along 

 the Atlantic coast of the United States 

 which must eventually be established 

 from ]\Iaine to Florida if the people of 

 this country are to preserve what yet re- 

 mains of the original bird fauna. 



That some place in that region should 

 be taken without delay for such a reser- 

 A'ation cannot be questioned ; and by ac- 

 cepting the important opportunity now 

 offered on this island the Federal govern- 

 ment would obtain immediately the best 

 place possible for initiating a work long 

 urgent on the Atlantic coast, and by 

 Avhose neglect species of great economic 

 A'alue or exceptional beauty, like the pas- 

 senger pigeon and the trumpeter swan, 

 have been — hopelessly in the one case 

 cited or practically in the other — but 

 lately lost. 



:\IOUNT DESERT COXTAIXS A GREATER DI- 

 A'ERSITY OF PLANT LIFE THAX ANY 

 SIMILAR RESTRICTED AREA IX XEW EXG- 

 LAXD OR IX THE EASTERX'^ STATES. 



One of the commonest sights in the 

 wilder districts of the northeastern 

 United States is vast stretches of burned 



and waste lands, left in this sad condi- 

 tion after the cutting of timber and in- 

 tentional or accidental burning of the 

 refuse. 



Now it so happens that nearly if not 

 quite all the native plants which origi- 

 nally inhabited the forested areas have a 

 peculiarly modified root structure which 

 renders it impossible for them to grow 

 in any soil but the moist and sponge-like 

 forest humus (leaf-mold). 



The first effect upon the native vegeta- 

 tion, then, of clearing and burning the 

 forested areas is the complete annihila- 

 tion of countless individuals, represent- 

 ing hundreds of species of wild flowers 

 and ferns, which make much of the origi- 

 nal charm of the primitive forest. So 

 complete has been the destruction of the 

 humus layer by the cutting and burning 

 of lands through many generations that 

 it is well-nigh impossible to find within 

 50 miles of our large towns any areas of 

 appreciable extent where the original 

 wild flowers of the forest can now be 

 seen. 



This calamity, as it is viewed by lovers 

 of nature, does not stop, however, with 

 the mere destruction of the native wild 

 flowers and ferns ; but, through the up- 

 setting of nature's equilibrium, a much 

 more serious situation is evolved. \^ery 

 briefly, the process is this : The cutting 

 of the forests, with its consequent drying 

 out or burning away of the humus (leaf- 

 mold), destroys, as already stated, the 

 native forest vegetation ; the destruction 

 of the native plants has its immediate ef- 

 fect upon the feeding and breeding of 

 the native insects, which nature has 

 through countless ages made dependent 

 upon them and which rarely if ever be- 

 come troublesome to the farmer. 



The destruction of the food-plants of 

 the native insects, depleting or locally 

 exterminating the native insect species, 

 again has its effect upon the native birds, 

 which through ages have depended upon 

 the indigenous insects. The destruction 

 of the native vegetation, furthermore, 

 has a direct effect also upon the native 

 birds and mammals, in that their natural 

 breeding haunts and hunting grounds are 

 destroyed. 



A\"hether or not the gradual reforesta- 



