The Roosevelt Field Club 



Ruth V. Weierheiser 



Secretary and Treasurer, Buffalo, N. Y. 



It is impossible for me to give the reader a complete and well- 

 formed idea of the purpose and activities of this unique club 

 without a short sketch of its history. The Roosevelt Field Club 

 is a children's organization which was formed March, 1920, by 

 Chauncey J. Hamlin, President of the Buffalo Society of Natural 

 Sciences. The aim of the organization is to instil a love of all wild 

 life and to teach children how to understand and to conserve this 

 life which is so often misunderstood. The club was named in 

 honor of Theodore Roosevelt who was a most active naturalist. 



Owing to the winter climate of Buffalo being more inducive of 

 indoor study than outdoor hiking, Sunday afternoon lectures are 

 given from Christmas to Easter. Among the lecture subjects last 

 winter were "Trees," "Wild Flowers," "Fossils," "How to Make an 

 Aquaritmi," "Bird Photography," and the six reels of "How Life 

 Begins." 



Last spring, the first trip was held at Williamsville on April the 

 24th. Although the day proved to be clear, cold and windy, over 

 eighty children and several grown-ups hiked the entire four miles. 

 The last part of the trip was devoted to the exploring of a limestone 

 quarry rich in fossils, garter sankes, and toad and frog eggs. Since 

 the Williamsville trip, thirteen others have been conducted, an 

 unusually interesting one being the outing to Eighteen Mile Creek, 

 on June 12 th. This creek is very famous in the realm of geology, 

 William L. Bryant of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences hav- 

 ing found the fossil of the "Dinichthys Magnificus" in the Devonian 

 rock in this locality, the only specimen of the species ever found in 

 America. Another memorable day for the children was the occa- 

 sion of the finding of a giant puff-ball on a trip to Toad Hollow. 

 Professor Alexander brought it all the way back to the city to have 

 it photographed. 



Since the 26th of June, when the club held a second trip to Ham- 

 burg, N. Y., Professor William P. Alexander, formerly of Cornell 

 University, has been the lecturer for the club. On such days you 

 will find him the central figure within a circle o£ interested boys and 

 girls, — sometimes the radius of said circle being as long as ten or 

 fifteen feet. He is barely given time to eat his lunch, so anxious 

 are the members to have every object in sky, earth and water 



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