AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



313 



Mr. VanHorn's house on Great Duck Island. Little Duck Island 

 is seen in the distance and in the extreme distance are the highlands 

 of Mount Desert. 



of the eighteenth before we arrived at Rockland and took the steamer 

 on the Mount Desert line. It was a dismal morning the fog being so 

 dense that it was impossible to see the sky or even a boat's length ahead. 



With her whistle continually blowing deep-toned, ominous blasts, the 

 boat slowly threaded her way among the many small islands, beautiful 

 in fair weather but now only hazy outlines or invisible. My anticipations 

 of many photos taken 'enroute' were dispelled early and the camera was 

 not brought into requisition that day and might as well have been left 

 at home the next, the atmosphere being so thick that it could literally 

 have been cut with a knife. With the aid of a gasoline launch we made 

 our way from Southwest Harbor, the southernmost stopping place on 

 Mount Desert, to Duck Island being guided by the compass and the fog 

 whistle which is blown at minute intervals in foul weather. 



We made our headquarters at the cottage of Mr. Van Horn who, with 

 the exception of the three lighthouse keepers, is the only inhabitant on 

 the island. He is a typical New England fisherman, bronzed by the 

 sun and the elements. He daily makes the rounds of his lobster traps, 

 each marked by its floating buoy, and upon his return the proceeds of 

 his days or nights catch are deposited in an old covered dory which has 

 been converted into a fish car, and from this receptacle they are once a 



