CLOSING YEARS 91 



to see and this ended his long series of visits to the land 

 of birds and flowers. 



In the fall of 1891, Mr. and Mrs. Boardman spent several 

 months at the Clifton Springs, N. Y., sanatorium, reach- 

 ing there September 15 and remaining until December 

 2. For some time Mr. Boardman had suffered from an 

 affection of the throat and nose which proved to be 

 caused by polypi and he went to Dr. Foster's sanatorium 

 for treatment. They were removed on September 30 and 

 31 and on the following day Mr. Boardman "went to 

 walk and wrote letters." On October 3, he records: "Saw 

 plovers and cow buntings" — which is almost the only 

 entry about birds in the diary for that year. December 

 23, Mr. Boardman received a telegram informing him of 

 the death of Mrs. Baird. The diary for this year records 

 the names of one hundred and sixty-four persons with 

 whom Mr. Boardman had corresponded, among them 

 those of his old scientific friends : Henry Osborn of 

 London, Eng., George N. Lawrence, C. Hart Merriam, 

 E. Coues, F. M. Chapman, Everett Smith, Robert Ridg- 

 way, N. Clifford Brown, J. R. Krider, J. A. Allen, O. S. 

 Bickmore, William Dutcher, Prof. T. H. Bean and many 

 others. 



The spring of 1892 was spent by Mr. and Mrs. Board- 

 man at Clifton Springs, N. Y., and in the west — the 

 months of May and June in Minneapolis with their chil- 

 dren. The spring in the west had been very cold and Mr. 

 Boardman records : " May 7 — Martins almost frozen; 

 May 20 — Humming birds on the snow." On June 9 

 and 10 he attended the National convention at which 

 Harrison was nominated for the Presidency. Calais 

 was reached on July 7 and the remainder of that year 



