62 THE NATURALIST OF THE ST. CROIX 



Conners' place at Oak Bay. September 8 was " a rainy, 

 dull day; labelled some birds with Prof. Baird." The 

 following day was one of very high wind and the two 

 naturalists "numbered and labelled eggs all the after- 

 noon." September 10 was dull and foggy and they 

 "arranged the bird collection " in the bird house. What 

 happy days were those ! And so the brief records in the 

 diary go on until the Bairds left for Washington ; the 

 days became shorter and Mr. Boardman again made 

 plans for visiting the south. 



On the last day of December, 1869, Mr. Boardman left 

 home for Florida. Mrs. Boardman did not accompany 

 him on this visit as, from a letter to Prof. Baird written 

 from Boston, January 3, 1870, "Charley and his wife 

 were to board with her" during the winter. While in 

 Boston he purchased large quantities of supplies to take 

 south with him. Reaching Washington he remained a 

 week, working at the Smithsonian and visiting friends. 

 One entry from his diary, that for January 14, is a sample 

 of many made at that time : " Worked assorting eggs 

 all day at the Smithsonian." On his journey south 

 he stopped at Richmond, Wilmington, Charleston and 

 Savannah and reached Fernandina on Januar}^ 20. Writ- 

 ing to Prof. Baird from Charleston, January 17, he saj^s : 

 "Tell Mrs. Baird I hardly know how we should have 

 got along without the sandwiches. They were just the 

 thing. Yesterday a boy came into the cars to sell wine 

 and on the seat we had the sandwiches and two kinds of 

 wine. So you may be assured we drank to our friends' 

 health." The winter was spent at Jacksonville, Hibernia, 

 Greencove Springs, Orange Bluff, Valusia and other 

 places. In a letter to Prof. Baird, dated February 6, he 

 writes : 



