116 THE NATURALIST OF THE ST. CROIX 



present school of ornithologists had begun their work and 

 all recent writers have been indebted to his results for 

 much of their knowledge of Maine birds. He was the 

 first to describe many species and found the first nests 

 and recorded the nesting habits of many birds then new 

 to science. One of these was that of the large Sheldrake ; 

 another that of the Canada Jay ; another that of the 

 Crossbill ; another that of the American Merganser. 

 Winfred A. Stearns, in his New England Bird Life, 

 acknowledges his indebtedness to Mr. Boardman for a 

 description of the nest of the Canada Jay, while Mr. 

 George Bird Grinnell, in his American Duck Shooting, 

 New York, 1901, makes no less than six acknowledg- 

 ments to Mr. Boardman for original information and 

 prefaces his account of the nesting habits of the American 

 Merganser, pages 227-228, by saying : " Definite infor- 

 mation as to the breeding habits of the American Mer- 

 ganser were first given by Mr. George A. Boardman of 

 Calais, Maine, to whom ornithology owes so much." 

 The entire account appears in his paper on Tree Nest- 

 ing Ducks, in this volume. 



Writing to Mr. Boardman under date of December 2, 

 1862, Prof. Baird says : "I had not before known of the 

 occurrence of the banded three-toed woodpecker so far 

 south. Try and get us a good specimen." This and 

 similar statements found in his correspondence show 

 how constantly Mr. Boardman was finding out and record- 

 ing new things about birds which information he was 

 freely giving to the leading naturalists of the country as 

 his contribution to science, seldom wishing to be known 

 as the first to establish such facts if only science in 

 general received the benefit of the same. Many instances 



