214 THE NATURALIST OF THE ST. CROIX 



throughout his long and active professional and scientific 

 life. 



Dr. Wood was very enthusiastic in the study of natural 

 history, giving special attention to the study of orni- 

 thology and oology in which he made large collections. 

 In taxidermy Dr. Wood had few .superiors and his collec- 

 tion of mounted birds and their eggs was widely known 

 — being the largest and choicest in private hands in the 

 state of Connecticut and one of the largest in the country. 

 In a special building upon his home grounds he had his 

 office, while the larger part of it was used to house his 

 extensive collections of natural history specimens, Indian 

 relics and other curios. The collection was always freely 

 shown to all visitors by some member of the family, 

 without charge. Dr. Wood was an occasional contrib- 

 utor to the American Naturalist and wrote a series of 

 articles on the Rapacious Birds of New England, 

 published in the Hartford Times in 1861. Upon this sub- 

 ject he was the leading authority. He was an honorary 

 member of the I^yceum of Natural History of Williams 

 College and a corresponding member of the Nuttall Orni- 

 thological Club of Cambridge, Mass. 



From a memoir of Dr. Wood contributed to the Report 

 of the Connecticut Medical Society by Dr. S. R. Burnap 

 of Windsor Locks, the following extract is taken : 



Dr. Wood was a man of a very genial and friendly nature, 

 warm and hearty in his greetings, and especially enjoyed meeting 

 liis pi-ofessional bretluen in the several medical societies with 

 Avhicli he was connected, and would ))e at much pains and incon- 

 venience rather than be absent on those occasions. He was one 

 of the two or three organizers of the Hartford County Nortli 

 Medical Association some twenty-eight years ago, of which he 

 was secretary from the time of its organization till his death. 



