WITH ROOSEVELT AT PINE KNOT 



So on the morrow we took a leisurely drive along 

 the highways. Very soon we heard a wren which 

 was new to me. "That 's Bewick's wren," he said. 

 We got out and watched it as it darted in and out 

 of the fence and sang. 



I asked him if he knew whether the little gray 

 gnatcatcher was to be seen there. I had not seen 

 or heard it for thirty years. "Yes," he replied, 'T 

 saw it the last time I was here, over by a spring run.'* 



We walked over to some plum-trees where there 

 had been a house at one time. No sooner had we 

 reached the spot than he cried, "There it is now !'* 

 And sure enough, there it was in full song — a little 

 bird the shape of a tiny catbird, with a very fine 

 musical strain. 



As we were walking in a field we saw some birds 

 that were new to me. Roosevelt also was puzzled 

 to know what they were till we went among them 

 and stirred them up, discovering that they were 

 females of the blue grosbeak, with some sparrows 

 which we did not identify. 



In the course of that walk he showed me a place 

 where he had seen what he had thought at the time 

 to be a flock of wild pigeons. He described how 

 they flew, the swoop of their movements, and the 

 tree where they alighted. I was skeptical, for it 

 had long been thought that wild pigeons were ex- 

 tinct, but that fact had not impressed itself ni)on 

 his mind. He said if he had known there could be 



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