34 THE NATURALIST OF THE ST. CROIX 



ping it almost bottom side up. The birds at once began 

 to make repairs upon their home and Mr. Boardman 

 set the little children at watching them. The branch 

 of the tree on which the nest was fixed was quite near a 

 chamber window and the children were stationed in the 

 room to watch the progress and report. The birds 

 rebuilt the nest and when it was occupied and the birds 

 were engaged in hatching the eggs Mrs. Taylor 

 remembers that they had a small clock in the room and 

 were to note how long one bird would sit upon the nest 

 before being relieved by its mate. The children were 

 delighted to be a help to their father in this way and 

 came, through such interesting incidents, to love to 

 watch and study birds themselves. 



In the first letter which Mr. Boardman wrote to his 

 correspondent, Dr. William Wood of East Windsor Hill, 

 Conn., dated September 23, 1864 and referred to in that 

 chapter of this volume which gives a resume of this 

 interesting correspondence at some length, Mr. Board- 

 man says: "Mr. Allen is mistaken in thinking me 

 an ornithologist or oologist, as I do not pretend to be 

 either. A person can have a love for flowers and not be 

 a botanist, or have a love for birds and to observe their 

 habits without being an ornithologist or oologist." It 

 appears that Mr. J. A. Allen, then of Springfield, Mass., 

 had mentioned Mr. Boardman to Dr. Wood and the 

 latter gentleman had at once written to him, saying: 

 "I trust that I need make no apology for addressing 

 one engaged in the same pursuit as myself — in fact, I 

 find naturalists, everywhere, belong to one brotherhood." 

 This had brought out Mr. Boardman's most interesting 

 letter from which the above extract has been given and 



