154 
EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT. 
VIII. 
0 R NITIIOLOGY. 
REPORT OF DR. P. L. HATCH. 
Prof. W. H. Winchell — 
Dear Sir : The increased facilities for extending my observations over- 
new sections of the State, which your considerations afforded me, have 
enabled me to achieve more satisfactory results than in the preceding year. 
I not only visited remote points of great interest, but have thus succeeded 
in enlisting competent assistants who have entered into the exploration of 
their special localities with great enthusiasm. Several such have given me 
carefully prepared reports of wliat they have accomplished, which I reserve 
to draw upon in making up my final report. I have held several such over 
the last year from Messrs. T. S. .Roberts, C. L. Herrick, R. L. Williams and. 
E. L. Hood, which, but for a little misapprehension, I should have handed: 
you a year ago. 
I am gratified, however, to know that they do not regret the omission. I 
am under renewed obligations to these young and enthusiastic naturalists- 
for their hearty co-operation. They will pardon my constitutional caution 
in not publishing observations in natural history prematurely : they are bet¬ 
ter, sometimes, like wine, for having been kept a time. It is often the case- 
that but half of the truth is a whole falsehood. I am anxious to gather data, 
from more than half of the field before attempting to extract reliable truth 
for the whole. However, I have a paper from your assistant, Prof. C. W. 
Hall, prepared by Mr. T. S. Roberts, his assistant, in a Geological and Natu¬ 
ral History exploration of the north-west shore of Lake Superior, that is so- 
complete in itself and covers a hitherto unexplored region of such interest 
to ornithologists, that I cannot withhold it for my completed report without 
injustice, not only to those gentlemen, but to all who are interested in the- 
fauna of that interesting region. You will find it inclosed herewith. With 
renewed assurances of my interest in the work I have undertaken and my 
sincere acknowledgments for your official and personal kindness uniformly- 
manifested to me, I remain, 
Yours very truly, 
No. 818 Nicollet Av., Minneapolis, March 5, 1880. 
P. L. HATCH, 
