THE VEGETATION OF MONTAUK 



43 



Figure 13. Lee contact of Hither Woods and open Downs. Note the vanguard of 

 pioneer oaks creeping out from the edge of the forest, and, for comparison, the abrupt edge 

 of the ordinary wooded kettleholes (Fig. 11). 



The Hither Woods. 



If other evidence as to the gradual afforestation of some parts of Mon- 

 tauk were lacking there would still remain the Hither Woods, and its eastern 

 or lee contact with the Downs, to confirm the point. Nowhere else on 

 Long Island is there such a splendid illustration of the encroachment of a 

 forest over the grassland as at the northeasterly contact between these 

 woods and the Downs, about a mile west of the village. 



The Hither Woods, predominantly oak, present an extraordinary ap- 

 pearance when compared with other forests on Long Island. The woods 

 extend for about four miles west of Montauk and they are dense. Ap- 

 parently they have always existed, since the earliest record of the first 

 settlers at Easthampton speaks of them. J. A. Ayres who visited the 



