CORRESPONDENCE 261 



London, 15 June, 1871. 

 Dear Boardman: 



I am indeed an awful correspondent, but the fact is that I am 

 so saddled with work that I am about as badly off as Baird, and I 

 generally manage to pile a bit more on. I am glad to hear that 

 you have had so nice a time down south, and wish I could have 

 been there with you. You will have found plenty in the way of 

 birds. Some day when I grow rich and able to rest on my oars 

 (I don't see when it will be, by the way) I will take a trip and 

 see Florida. I quite long for it now for, would you believe it, we 

 have had fires until last week, June, and have not seen the sun 

 for about a fortnight, and then it winked at us and evidently did 

 not like the look of us and consequently looked elsewhere. I have 

 seen the work on the Birds of California and don't like it as well 

 as I expected. They seem not to have kept with the times, and 

 speak of the eggs, etc., as unknown of lots of birds, the eggs of 

 which are in the Smithsonian. Besides they give such a little 

 scrap of information as to habits, etc., and it makes such a dry 

 book. I hope more particulars will be given with the Birds of the 

 United States. Elliot has been here for the past week or two and 

 I have seen him about half a dozen times. He is well and work- 

 ing hard at his book on pheasants. He left for Geneva yesterday 

 and returns again in a month. Our book is getting along well, 

 but does not pay its way yet, which we could, however, scarcely 

 expect as we do it Avith scarcely any margin fifty pages of 

 letterpress, quarto, and eight or nine large plates hand colored 

 and executed by a good artist, for 10s. 6d. requires a whole lot 

 sold before it will pay. However, as matters go I hope we shall 

 have enough subscribers to make it pay by the end of the year. 

 It keeps all my spare time fully employed. Elliot Coues has been 

 writing to me lately and helping us but I can't get Baird to do 

 anything though I would gladly pay well for any skins we 

 require for the work. 



By the way, if I send you a slight sketch of a Surf Scoter's 

 head could you get any one to color it accurately from a fresh 

 killed bird at a reasonable rate? There are many of these little 

 details which one must look to. 



