THE OOLOGIST. 



43 



after sunrise the next morning by old Jim, 

 who from his favorite perch in an apple- 

 tree near my window, was making quite a 

 series of sounds. Introducing among other 

 imitations, the cackle of the hen, and the 

 baa of sifteep. At times he would stop as if 

 to take breath and calice, then break out in 

 a fit of swearing, cursing, and cawing. 

 After a hasty breakfast I took my valise 

 (made expressly for egg collecting) and hur- 

 ried toward the Griswold St. Dock, arriving 

 just in time to purchase a ticket and board 

 the Steamer Grey Hound. On the upper 

 deck I found my chum. At ten o'clock Ave 

 reached our destination. While my chum 

 took our luggage to the hotel, I looked 

 around to sec what I could find in the way 

 of a boat. A few minutes walk brought me 

 to a boat house kept by an old German. 

 Here I succeeded in hiring one, though 

 with some difficulty, as the old man seemed 

 unwilling to let one to such young and in- 

 experienced hands, but finally by adding an 

 extra quarter and a plug of tobacco we got 

 him to give us the best one had, and two 

 pair of oars. Upon inquiry we were in- 

 formed that the Coot bred in great numbers 

 directly across the channel; accordingly we 

 turned our attention in that direction. A 

 steady half hour pull pull found us at least 

 3 miles from the hotel and in one of those 

 small channels numerous in all the marshes 

 on the St. Clair Flats. We were borne 

 silently yet swiftly with the current for at 

 least another half mile, when, rounding a 

 bend we came suddenly npon a Sand Hill 

 Crane, standing on one leg in nearly a foot 

 of water. Seeing us a]Dproaching, he spread 

 his huge sand colored wings and with a flap 

 or two rose lazily in the air, flying slowly 

 across the marsh toward the main channel. 

 Entering another channel we started back 

 in a round about way. Arriving within a 

 mile or two of the hotel we anchored our 

 boat; taking off our shoes and stockings and 

 rolling up our pants, we stejaped into the 

 water. At first it seemed very cold, but we 

 soon grew accustomed to it and struck out 

 boldly through the wild rice in search of 

 nests. Near the boat in a bunch of reeds, I 

 took the first nest of the day; it was a nest 



of the Florida Gallinule, containing 9 eggs. 

 1 had hardly congratulated myself over my 

 good luck, when a joyful shout from my 

 chum caused me to look in that direction; 

 there he stood knee deep in water holding a 

 small egg in his hand; he said it was a Hail's 

 egg and that there was a nest near him 

 containing 8 more. Telling him not to call 

 when he found another, I turned and 

 made off in the opposite direction. In the 

 first 100 yards, I found nothing, but upon 

 emerging from the thick reeds irto more 

 open water, I saw a Thich-billed Grebe 

 sitting on her floating nest of reeds and 

 grasses. Upon seeing me she slid quitely 

 into the water; that was the last I saw of 

 her, although she kept up a continuous 

 crying while I remained in the locality; 

 the nest contained 8 fresh eggs. This is 

 the largest set I ever found, the average 

 being from 5 to 7. From here I stepped 

 into a clump of wild rice, the first thing my 

 eyes rested upon was an old Maish Wren's 

 nest. At this instant the distant boom of 

 thunder came rolling over the marshes and 

 the reed tops began to rustle and sway 

 back forth before a brisk wind which had 

 just sprung up. Looking around I was sur- 

 prised to see dark clouds appearing in the 

 west, warning me that a storm was fast 

 approaching. Hastily gathering a set of 

 Coot's eggs which I nearly stepped on. T 

 hurried toward the boat, my chum reached 

 it before me and had everything ready, so 

 all I did was to jump in and take the oars. 

 Well, we had a hard pull of it, but suc- 

 ceeded in reaching the hotel just as the 

 storm broke out. 



It soon passed over, however, and we 

 spent the remainder of the afternoon in 

 collecting Coot's eggs in the vicinity of the 

 boat house. After we had gathered all that 

 we desired, we returned to the hotel to 

 await the coming of the steamer. Nothing 

 more need be said except that we arrived 

 home in due time, tired, though well pleased 

 with our days collecting. Thus ended one 

 long to be remembered day among the 

 Coots on the St. Clair Flats. 



J. Clair Wood Jr. , 



Detroit, Mich. 



