218 THE NATURALIST OF THE ST. CROIX 



During the continuance of this correspondence fifty- 

 two letters were written by Dr. Wood and sixty-nine by 

 Mr. Boardman. The collection is rich in natural history 

 facts, for both were rare observers of the ways of birds 

 and most entertaining letter- writers. Interesting per- 

 sonal incidents also occur in nearly each one. Wher- 

 ever Mr. Boardman was he kept up his correspondence 

 with his friends. He wrote from his home in Milltown, 

 from places in Florida where he spent the winters, from 

 Boston, from New York, from Washington, from Minne- 

 sota and from California. The letters are all original. 

 There are no duplicates in Mr. Boardman's letters 

 though written to so many different persons and gen- 

 erally upon the same subjects. 



Dr. Wood writes in 1864 that he has not been able to 

 get the eggs of the Duck Hawk ' ' although I visited the 

 cliffs, some fifteen miles from here, four times last spring 

 for that purpose. The birds that were described in 

 chapter fifteen of my Rapacious Birds of New England, 

 I kept alive two years, and when Prof. Baird was here 

 I gave them to him. He took them to Washington to 

 note the change in plumage but they soon died." Writ- 

 ing to Mr. Boardman May 17, 1865, he tells of his collec- 

 tors who climb trees after the nests of the Red-tailed 

 Hawk, in this interesting extract. 



I expect to start on a trip of thirty-two miles next Monday 

 to collect the eggs of the Night Heron. One of my collectors 

 accompanies me to climb the trees. They nest here in great 

 numbers, 1,000 or more. I wish you were here to go with us. It 

 is a sight worth seeing to go into that heavy timbered swamp and 

 see it alive with them. Almost every tree has one or more nests 

 upon it. I went there some four years since but found the young 

 so far advauced that I did not get but a few poor eggs. Hope to 



