270 THE NATURALIST OF THE ST. CROIX 



In 1884, writing from Calais on December 1, Mr. Board- 

 man sends a skin of Florida Pigeon Hawk and wants 

 him to compare it with the pigeon hawks in the Smith- 

 sonian as " there is a very great difference in the bands 

 of the tail from those of our northern birds." Again, 

 January 8, 1885, he says : "One of my collecting friends 

 in Minneapolis wrote me of going last spring up to Devil's 

 Lake in Dakota and finding the large grebe — occidentalis 

 — breeding there quite common. I have never heard of 

 western grebe this side of the mountains and thought it 

 must be a new thing. Write me if this large grebe has 

 been found breeding so far east before." April 20, 1885, 

 Mr. Boardman writes to Mr. Ridgway that " one of our 

 Surf Ducks is a little different from those described in 

 the books, but it may be common. Most of them have 

 two white patches on the top of the head and back of 

 the neck. We have them here with only one white 

 patch, none on the top of the head. Do you have the 

 Surf Duck with only one white patch?" On December 

 26, 1887, Mr. Boardman sends Mr. Ridgway from Calais, 

 ' ' the little hawk for you to see if there is any difference 

 between it and the common Pigeon Hawk. The bands 

 on the tail look to me different. I was sorry I could not 

 make out the sex ; but it was so shot through the back 

 I could not. It appeared, however, more like a female, 

 although the dark color would indicate a male." Writ- 

 ing from Calais, November 10, 1870, Mr. Boardman says : 

 " In looking over some of my old papers I see in Prof. 

 Reinhardt's paper on the Birds of Greenland (1860), 

 he speaks of a duck called Fuligula cristata, taken there 

 by Mr. Walker at Godhaven during the stay of the ship 

 Fox at that place in 1857. I write to ask if this is the 



