NOV 26 i320 
STATE GEOLOGIST. 
155 - 
Dr. P. L. Hatch , State Ornithologist — 
Sir : I transmit to yon herewith a list of birds collected by Mr. Thomas 
S. Roberts. During the past summer a geological and collecting corps of 
the Geological and Natural History Survey of this State was sent by the 
State Geologist to the northwest shore of Lake Superior for studying cer¬ 
tain geological and mineralogical characters along the cost, and for making 
collections of the fauna and flora of that region, that the same might be 
represented in the General Museum of the University. 
Mr. Roberts was my assistant on that expedition, and I am pleased to 
have an opportunity here to bear record to his untiring industry and 
patience, to his quickness and exactness in observation, and to the thorough¬ 
ness with which he followed out the details of every examination. 
The skins of the birds collected and the sterna and parts of the viscera of 
many of them are in the Museum of* the Univerity, where yourself and all 
others interested in Ornithology can have free access to them for study and 
comparison. 
Yery truly yours, 
C. W. HALL. 
The University of Minnesota, Feb. 25, 1880. 
A PARTIAL LIST 
OF THE 
BIRDS OF ST. LOUIS AND LAKE COUNTIES, MINN, 
These two counties, St. Louis and Lake, form the triangle which projects 
eastward from the northern half of the State of Minnesota, between Lake 
Superior and the British possessions. Each is of large dimensions, and 
together they form an extensive tract of country, representing the wild, 
heavily timbered area of the State. This list of birds, however, relates only 
to a narrow strip along the lake shore, between the mouths of the St Louis 
and Devil’s Track Rivers—a general coast line of about one hundred and 
twelve miles. From Grand Marais, one hundred and eight miles below 
Duluth, a collecting trip was made six or eight miles inland to a sheet of 
water known as Devil’s Track Lake. This proved to be a quite large and 
pretty lake, with low, rocky shores and timber growing to the very water’s 
edge. From its eastern end floAvs the river of the same name, a considerable 
stream, which, after receiving several affluents and making a descent of 
over a thousand feet, enters Lake Superior about four miles below Grand 
Marais. 
This whole extent of country is covered with a dense forest, consisting for 
the most part of evergreens, white birch and poplar, which everywhere 
encroaches close upon the water’s edge, whether it be along the banks of 
the rivers or the shore of the lake. Indeed, it is alone the action of the 
