Boardman Conover (January 18, 1892 - May 5, 1950) was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 soldier and amateur ornithologist.

Conover was born in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 and studied at the Sheffield Scientific School

Sheffield Scientific School

Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Joseph E. Sheffield, the railroad executive. The school was...

 in Yale. He had an interest in natural history

Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...

 from an early age, and collected bird specimens. In 1920, he travelled to Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

 with Wilfred Hudson Osgood

Wilfred Hudson Osgood

Wilfred Hudson Osgood was an American zoologist.Osgood was working as a biologist in the United States Department of Agriculture from 1897 to 1909. Then he moved to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, where he was assistant curator of mammalogy and ornithology from 1909 to 1921, and...

 on a collecting trip for the Field Museum of Natural History

Field Museum of Natural History

The Field Museum of Natural History is located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It sits on Lake Shore Drive next to Lake Michigan, part of a scenic complex known as the Museum Campus Chicago...

 in Chicago. They returned to South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 in 1922, visiting Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

 and Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

. In 1926, Conover travelled to East Africa

East Africa

East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...

.

Conover donated his collection of specimens, mostly game birds

Game (food)

Game is any animal hunted for food or not normally domesticated. Game animals are also hunted for sport.The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world. This will be influenced by climate, animal diversity, local taste and locally accepted view about what can or...

, to the Field Museum. He made a large number of contributions to Carl Edward Hellmayr's

Carl Edward Hellmayr

Carl Eduard Hellmayr was an Austrian ornithologist.-Life and work:Hellmayr was born in Vienna and studied at the University of Vienna, although he did not finish his degree...

The Catalogue of Birds of the Americas.