138 



THE OOLOQIST 



Notes on Visits of Col. Roosevelt 



To Bird Reservists in Louisiana. 



P^ormer-president Theodore Roose- 

 velt, as guest of John M. Parker, well- 

 known Louisiana sportsman, and M. L. 

 Alexander, president of the Conserva- 

 tion Commission of Louisiana, made a 

 six days' tour of inspection of the is- 

 lands off the Louisiana coast, east of 

 the Mississippi river, June 8 to 12, see- 

 ing the many gulls, terns, skimmers 

 and other specimens of avian life that 

 use these sandy fragments of land 

 along the Gulf of Mexico as breeding 

 places. 



Many of the islands visited were 

 United States Government reserva- 

 tions set aside for such purposes while 

 Col. Roosevelt was president, and 

 others were those given over as game 

 and waterfowl refuges by the Conser- 

 vation Commission of Louisiana. 



The former president left Pass 

 Christian at daybreak June 8, accom- 

 panied by John M. Parker, his two 

 sons Tom A. and John Jr., Herbert K. 

 Job, head of the Department of Ap- 

 plied Ornithology, National Associa- 

 tion of Audubon Societies, who made 

 the photographs that Col. Roosevelt 

 will use to illustrate his Scribner arti- 

 cle on the protection given breeding 

 birds in Louisiana and other conserva- 

 tion work in vogue there. 



The tour embraced a survey of the 

 Chandeleur, Free Mason, North Har- 

 bor, Grand Cochere, Battledore, and 

 Breton Islands. Col. Roosevelt landed 

 at most of them and made intimate 

 studies of the nesting birds as to their 

 habits, number of eggs deposited and 

 the great numbers that congregate ou 

 the different sandy spits that line the 

 gulf off the Louisiana coast. 



Thursday, June 10th, the party was 

 joined by President M. L. Alexander, 

 president of the Conservation Commis- 

 sion of Louisiana, and Stanley Clisby 

 Arthur, the commission's ornithologist. 

 Mr. Alexander explained to the dis- 



tinguished visiting naturalist the vari- 

 ous plans for conserving the game and 

 bird life of the state under the ad- 

 vanced theories practiced by the Com- 

 mission and Mr. Arthur gave Col. 

 Roosevelt first hand information re- 

 garding the nesting habits and zonal 

 peculiarities of many species of water- 

 fowl that have selected Louisiana as a 

 breeding home since the establishment 

 of game preserves and gave other in- 

 formation about bird life in parts of 

 the state that Col. Roosevelt found im- 

 possible to visit owing to his limited 

 stay in the South. 



[The photo accompanying this arti- 

 cle appeared in the last issue of THE 

 OOLOGIST.— Editor.] 



Good. 



We are pleased to receive a circular 

 from the Department of Agriculture at 

 Washington, to the effect that "The 

 migratory bird law is to be enforced. 

 Sportsmen warned that federal regula- 

 tions for the protection of wild fowl 

 must be observed." 



We trust that this means exactly 

 what it says, and that all persons vio- 

 lating this Federal bird law this fall 

 season will be prosecuted without fear 

 or favor, and anything that we can do 

 to assist in this matter will be gladly 

 done. If the birds are not protected 

 we will have no birds. 



American Bittern. 



"George, we've found that bird's nest 

 you wanted, four eggs, — in nest — kind 

 a gr — in grass, gray, tall — in marsh — 

 bird sits — bird fights — like this — like 

 everything, etc."; thus I was stormed 

 one gloomy day about June 7th by the 

 girl and boy where I was staying. A 

 few questions convinced me that in- 

 stead of the nest and eggs I wanted, 

 that it was a nest of the American Bit- 

 tern. They would sell the eggs to me 

 for two dollars but I declined, later 

 the bird deserted the nest and I bought 

 them considerably cheaper and they 



