40 



TWO ATLANTIC COAST ISLANDS 



this island is an ideal resort for the fowl of land or water, — 

 a place of peace and plenty, — and only those factors which 

 impel migration amongst most of our birds, and consequent 

 exposure to an endless series of dangers, have prevented it 

 from becoming a vast aviary. 



Fortunately removed from beaten paths of travel, one 

 cannot buy an "excursion ticket" to this Island of Birds 



The Signal at the Fireplace 



but, journeying part of the way by train, one must secure 

 such conveyance as his alighting place affords, and drive 

 seven miles over country roads and grassy lanes to a look- 

 out point where his haven marks the horizon three miles 

 across the waters. Here, at the Fireplace, as it is called lo- 

 cally and on the larger maps of Long Island, I enlisted in 

 my earlier visits, the services of the official fire-maker, to 

 build a fire whose smoke should give notice of a visitor to 

 the island beyond. The office is hereditary and had been 

 held by the man's great grandfather before him. Shortly 

 a dense cloud arose from a smudge of hay and seaweed and 

 was blown landward by the breezes from the Montauk. In 

 time came the answering signal, a flash of light from shin- 

 ing tin, gleaming intermittenly like the rays of an arc-light, 

 and shortly, through one's glasses, a boat was seen crossing 

 the bay. A telephone now supplies more certain if less pic- 



