14 



THE COLLECTOR'S MONTHLY. 



out by Smith wick as collected by him in I 

 his own counly. I wrote him a plain j 

 letter and demanded my eggs, which he 

 returned, yet said not a word about his 

 sets except asking me to return the same, 

 which I have not done as yet. If you say 

 so, I will forward the eggs to you with 

 data, and you can see for yourself. Mr. 

 Walter F. Webb, Geneva, N. Y., has seen 

 both these sets, and if you want any ad- 

 ditional proof of Smithwick's crooked- 

 ness, I guess he can give you a little. 



I hope you will give this matter your 

 attention and publish an account 

 of the same in your January num- 

 ber if possible, and let other collectors be 

 on the lookout for this fraud. Awaiting 

 an early reply, I am 



Yours very truly, 



W. L. Morse. 



Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y., Jan. 15, '92. 



Editor Collectors' Monthly :— I en- 

 close 30 cents in stamps for renewed sub- 

 scription. And subscription is the most 

 sincere form of flattery. 



Very truly, 



Fred Mather. 



While out on Cold Spring Harbor, 

 north shore of Long Island, on the night 

 of Jan. 13, seven Night Herons flew over 

 my boat. They were near enough to 

 count against the sky, rainy and over- 

 cast as it was, but could only be identi- 

 fied by their "quack." The date struck 

 me as an unusual one for these birds to 

 be here, though the winter has been a 

 warai one and the harbor and many 

 ponds have not been frozen over to date. 

 Fred Matuek. 



[Written lor Collectors' Monthly.] 



St, Clair Flats. 



Having learned through Mr. W. H. Col- 

 lins of Detroit, that St. Clair Flats was a 

 breeding ground of the water birds.I went 



there the last days of May, in 1882, and 

 remained till the first week in July. Tak- 

 ing a Port Huron boat at Detroit, I went 

 to the Star Island House on the Flats. 

 Then 1 hired a row-boat, loaded my tent 

 and utensils and rowed to Dickenson Is- 

 land, about six miles north, and set up 

 my tent. Here was a farm fronting on a. 

 fine channel, and affording the conven- 

 iences of fresh bread and excellent milk. 



This island contained a good deal of 

 wood-land, and in a tall tree, in full view 

 of the tent, was a White-headed Eagle's 

 nest, the young nearly full grown and 

 standing erect in the nest. Land birds 

 abounded here, but the main territory 

 of interest was the Flats, spread out in 

 every direction, thousands of acres, cov- 

 ered with the sedges of the previous year, 

 and looking like a vast grain-field ready 

 for the harvest. I soon discovered that 

 there was such a labyrinth Of channels, 

 intersecting the sedges in all directions, 

 that one unacquainted with the connec- 

 tions would soon find himself in trouble. 

 So I secured a guide for a few days, till 1 

 got the lay of the ground, and learned 

 the relations of the main channel. He 

 was a marvel for keen sight, and the man- 

 agement of a boat. 



The first object of interest was the nest 

 of the Red-head duck. The nests were 

 fairly numerous, and the eggs were fresh. 

 The tracts of sedges standing in the wa- 

 ter, afforded the convenience of tying the 

 nest just over the water, and in the clum- 

 sy basket style, but quite thoroughly 

 built of the sedge grass and leaves of the 

 cat-tail, and near a channel. When the 

 eggs were first laid, there *was very little 

 if any down in the .nest, but as incuba- 

 tion proceeded there was a moderate 

 linning added. The eggs, generally 9-10, 

 butin one case 15, some 2.15 x 1.75, was 

 nearly oval or oblong-oval, smooth and 

 firm, and of a light brown tinge, some- 

 times slightly clouded, not often tinged 



