36 YEARBOOK, PUBLIC MUSEUM, MILWAUKEE. [Vol. I. 



nests, and all kinds of material to he used in the huilding of the group. 

 Captain Keller also hrought his car into service and carried a similar 

 load. At last the entire outfit was hack at headquarters. 

 It was the "End of a Perfect Dav." 



A SPRING COLLECTING TRIP TO THE 

 WISCONSIN RIVER 



By H. L. Stoduakd"' 



April 9, 1921, I left the Museum for Prairie du Sac, Sauk county, 

 supposedly for a ten days' collecting trip, the main ohject of which was 

 the securing of a nest of the Red-shouldered Hawk. By the time 

 this had heen accomplished, consideral)le other desirahle material of 

 greater importance had heen located, and consequently I was instructed 

 to stay out and collect, if feasible, group material of the Duck Hawk, 

 Prairie Chicken, Double-crested Cormorant and other species. 



Other trips to this section, made previous to 1913 for this Museum 

 as well as one in the interests of the Field Museum of Chicago, had l)een 

 very successful. This was partly due to the favorable formation of 

 the country, which includes such diverse and fine collecting grounds as 

 the rugged Baraboo Blufifs, the heavily timbered bottoms of the Wiscon- 

 sin river, large marshes and savannas, sandy prairies, rich farming 

 lands, and, last but not least, the great flooded area above the Prairie du 

 Sac power dam known as Lake Wisconsin. Another, and very important 

 reason why these expeditions had proven successful was because of the 

 large amount of help received from such good friends of the Museum 

 and its representative as Mr. E. D. Ochsner of Prairie du Sac, Mr. Bert 

 Laws of Mazomanie, Mr. Albert Gastrow of West Point, Columbia 

 county, and many others. These gentlemen gave a great deal of time, 

 as well as furnishing Fords, boats, lodgings whenever desired, and other 

 favors too numerous to mention. 



Sunday, April 10th, proved to be one of the most strenuous days of 

 a strenuous trip. Early in the morning Gastrow, Ochsner and I set out 

 in a rowboat to explore Lake Wisconsin. Noon found us eating our 

 lunch about eight miles up the lake, and within sight of the weird gray 

 forest of leafless and barkless trees, standing in twenty or more feet of 

 water, that stretches for miles above Merrimac and Okee. A section of 

 this strange forest is shown in figure 16. Double-crested Cormorants 



^"First Assistant Taxidermist, Milwaukee Public Museum. 



