CORRESPONDENCE 235 



Letters from Mr. Boardman to Dr. Wood 



MiLLTOWN, 27 March, 1866. 

 Deak Doctor: 



I have just received your letter of March 20 and am glad to 

 hear from you. 



I have just returned with my wife from quite a long trip down 

 your way. We went as far as Washington, visited the bird men 

 in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington. 

 Were absent about five weeks. I saw many fine collections of 

 birds and eggs but since I have got home I believe I like my own 

 little local collection better than any I saw. I came very near 

 making you a call, and had Mrs. Boardman not been with me, 

 think I should have done so. But Mrs. Boardman said I had 

 seen enough for one visit and I thought she was about right. It 

 would not do to see everything in one visit. I hope, however, 

 before very long to be New York way again. 



I saw quite a lot of new things at the Smithsonian which they 

 had received from Keunicott's expedition since my last visit there 

 a few years ago. Some of their eggs I think very good. The 

 skins were poorly done up, about the whole value of them was 

 the labels ; as for specimens they were not worth fifty cents a 

 bushel. 



I took tea with Dr. Bi-ewer of Boston and looked over his 

 collection. It is very large and nice. He is getting out a new 

 work, the second part of his American Oology, to be published by 

 the Smithsonian. The drawings are very good, mostly of the 

 smaller birds. I hope they will soon publish the work. It has 

 been so long since they published the first part I should be afraid 

 the first eggs would spoil, and the doctor told me they have found 

 out that some plates in the first part were not correctly colored. 



I have just had a call to go up to Fredericton for about a 

 week. Some of the English officers are quite good collectors. 

 The governor of the Province is a good naturalist and is a pleas- 

 ant correspondent. He goes in for live things and has quite a 

 menagerie of bears, beavers, foxes, squirrels, hedgehogs, etc. He 

 sends live things to the public gardens in London. I have found 

 nothing new in the way of birds or eggs this winter. I have had 



