102 THE NATURAUST OF THE ST. CROIX 



the New Brunswick government The Calais Times of 

 December 27, 1900, said : " It is a great acquisition to 

 the government crown land office. New Brunswick's 

 gain is an irremediable loss to Maine. A source of keen 

 regret is the fact that Mr. Boardman once offered this 

 priceless collection as a gift to the city of Calais on con- 

 ditions that could have been met with ease ; but his 

 offer was not accepted. It is too late now and the 

 poignancy of the irreparable loss will long linger in the 

 minds of all intelligent people who dwell in the towns 

 on the Maine side of the St, Croix." 



From Mr. Boardman's diary it appears that on May 

 30, 1900, the first effort toward making an inventory of 

 the contents of the museum with a view to its sale was 

 made. On July 4 of the same year the Provincial Pre- 

 mier, Hon. L. J. Tweedie and the Surveyor-General, 

 Hon. A. T. Dunn of Fredericton, visited Calais and made 

 a thorough examination of the entire collection. The 

 result of this visit was that Mr. Boardman at once com- 

 menced to take an account of the specimens in the museum 

 which work occupied him until July 31, while various 

 entries in the diary between those dates tell of the prog- 

 ress of the work. Finally, on December 8, 1900, the 

 sale of the entire collection was made in accordance with 

 the following indenture : 



Memorandum of Agreement, made this Eighth day of Decem- 

 ber, A. D. 1900, between George A. Boardman of Calais, in the 

 State of Maine, one of the United States of America, Gentle- 

 man, of the first part, and Her Majesty the Queen, represented 

 herein by the Honourable Albert T. Dunn, Surveyor General, of 

 the second part ; 



Witnesseth, First : That the said George A. Boardman here- 

 by sells to Her Majesty the whole collection of birds, eggs, 



