SOME SCIENTIFIC RESUETS 125 



surprised at the acquaintance they had with father's writ- 

 ings as an ornithologist and a man of exact knowledge 

 on scientific matters. Mr. Osborne stated to me that he 

 considered father the best friend he ever had ; that his 

 advice and counsel, of which he availed himself con- 

 tinually while in this country, saved him at least once 

 from bankruptcy. I also visited Henry E. Dresser at 

 Topclyffe Grange, Farnborough, Beckenham, Kent, 

 England, who, together with the oldest son of Baron 

 Rothschild, brought out the most elaborate and learned 

 work on the Birds of Europe ever published, with life size 

 portraits of the birds in colors. Mr. Dresser visited father 

 at Calais in 1860 or 1861, and speaks not onlj- all the 

 European languages, Russian included, but also Chinese 

 and was for many years in correspondence with father. 

 Mr. Dresser informed me that in the comparison between 

 the American and European birds of kindred species, in 

 which there is quite a difference in size and coloring in 

 manj^ instances, he relied outside of his own experience 

 more fully upon father's descriptions than that of an}- 

 other collector." 



The formation of Mr. Boardman's large private col- 

 lection in ornithology represents but a part of his work 

 of this kind during the years in w'hich he was engaged in 

 active field stud}' and collecting. He carried on an 

 extended correspondence with naturalists in all parts of 

 this country, in New Brunswick, in Canada and in Eng- 

 land. With mau}' of his correspondents he also engaged 

 in a regular and business-like system of exchanging 

 specimens, his correspondence showing how extensive 

 these exchanges were. He made many gifts to institu- 

 tions and museums, including the Boston Society of 



