CORRESPONDENCE 243 



anything. When the Professor returns we are to go to St. John, 

 Prince Edward Island, Halifax, etc., so he says. Our mills are 

 doing but little now and I can get away very easily. Prince 

 Edward Island would be a good place to collect eggs in the 

 spring as many northern birds breed there that do not go across 

 the gulf. My paper is about out and I must close. 



Yours very truly, 



Geo. a. Boardman. 



MiLLTOWN, Me., 17 May, 1872. 

 Friend Wood : 



I received your letter today and am always glad to hear from 

 you. 



I have only been home from Florida a few days. The weather 

 has been so backward I did not hurry much. Made quite a tarry 

 all the way north and saw most all the naturalist folks excepting 

 Dr. W. Wood, who should have been seen, but it is a little out of 

 the way, when you have a lot of women and extra baggage. 



I had a very nice pleasant winter at the south. I spent seven 

 weeks on board a little steam yacht shooting, fishing, etc., all the 

 time. We went to the very head waters of the St. Johns river to 

 lake Washington. We went above most of the settlements and a 

 long way above where any hunters go. We found lots of bird- 

 breeding places. One breeding place was nearly three miles long, 

 composed of egrets, cranes, blue and white water turkeys, etc. 

 I wish you had been with us, you would have had a nice time. We 

 had a hard time to keep our birds away from the alligators and 

 they took a good many. Sometimes we would shoot a bird with 

 one barrel and the alligator with the other so as to get to the 

 bird before it was lost. I shot over fifty of the lai-ge White- 

 Plumed Crane. We found ducks, turkey, deer, quail and snipe, 

 quite abundant. I found on the Upper St. Johns many birds quite 

 new to me, but got nothing very rai-e. I did not collect but a few 

 eggs as they most all got broken. The party consisted of five. 

 We made up quite a number of skins ; some of the gents are hav- 

 ing them mounted in New York and they are going into a mounted 

 collection. I shot in two hours, one afternoon, nineteen White 

 Cranes, two big Blue Cranes, one Wood Ibis, two White Ibis, one 

 Swallow-tailed Hawk, one Gray Squirrel and sevei-al small birds ; 



