112 THE NATURALIST OF THE ST. CROIX 



gave him untold annoyance. When a certain work on 

 the birds of New England and some of the adjacent states 

 was published about 1867, after he had examined it he 

 laid it down, exclaiming : " Oh ! the errors, the errors ! " 

 — and seldom looked at it afterward although some of 

 the errors were corrected in subsequent editions. 



One of his favorite literary exercises was the answer- 

 ing of puzzling questions in natural history, asked by 

 readers of the journals and magazines. In one of the 

 earlier volumes of Forest and Stream an inquiry appeared 

 from a correspondent wishing to know who that man 

 was way down east who settled all the disputed points 

 in ornithology — " whether the woodcock whistled with 

 his bill or wing ? what was the bird known as fool-par- 

 tridge in the west ? why was not the western black duck 

 good to eat?" etc. He took delight in answering all 

 such questions. It was done in few lines, yet with great 

 clearness and his answers were always the final word 

 upon the subject. The editor of Forest and Stream, in 

 the issue for January 26, 1901, says that one of the last 

 letters received from Mr. Boardman, only a short time 

 before his death, was written in kindly response to the 

 inquiry of a correspondent if he knew of a single authentic 

 instance of the taking of the panther in Maine. His reply 

 was in the negative and he added : "I have for fifty years 

 been looking after the skull of a panther that was killed 

 in this part of the state for my museum and have not been 

 able to get one." 



The correctness of Mr. Boardman's statements and 

 opinions upon subjects about which he was acquainted 

 or in which he had made studies may well be illustrated 

 by his views regarding the introduction and naturaliza- 

 tion of European game birds into Maine. In 1894-1895 



