Penobscot Bay, Maine.
1896
June27
(no 2)
  The trees just described are evidently of second growth & 25 or 30 years
of age. Among them, as in the open, one finds large stumps &
occasional dead stubs of the original growth which must have been
unusually large for an exposed "outer" island like this.
  Besides the two species of trees just mentioned I saw in the middle
of the woods a number of unusually tall mountain maples & one
very large striped maple, the latter the first I have met with on
this coast.
  As we were approaching the island only a few Gulls were in sight &
most of these sitting on the tops of the balsams, looking like
bunches of snow lodged in the dark green foliage, but soon after
we landed the birds rose in a perfect cloud from all the
wooded portions of the island and scatteringly from the open parts.
As we did not enter the woods for the first hour or two and
as we were careful not to make any unnecessary noise & to
move about slowly they soon got over their alarm and settled
back on their nests. Indeed they were very much tamer here
than anywhere else where I have been & more than ever I
walked up within good gunshot of a perching bird while
flying shots were offered continually. These birds were also much
more silent than any that we have seen elsewhere. In fact during
the three or four hours that we spent on the island I did not
hear more than ten or a dozen birds utter a sound of any kind
and not ever was there a general outcry. When we entered the
woods the birds simply left their nests and collecting together kept
coming up on set wings against the wind until nearly overhead then
flapping a little but as a rule gliding slowly on motionless
wings right into the teeth of the wind. There was something very
impressive in this silent leisurely advance of the host of great
white birds, often sixty or eighty of them together within the