A BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE 

 DEVOTED TO THE STUDY AND PROTECTION OF BIRDS 



Official Oroan of the Audubon Societies 



Vol. VI September — October, 1904 No. 5 



President Roosevelt and Bird Protection 



Bird-Lore does not propose to enter the political field, but eflFective bird protection is so 

 dependent upon proper legislation, particularly federal legislation, that it seems 

 desirable at this time to reprint two letters written to the Editor of this magazine by 

 the President of the United States when he was Governor of the state of New York, 

 and published, respectively, in our issues for April, 1899, and June, 1900. The letters 

 follow. — Ed. 



My dear Air. Chapman : 



I need hardly say how heartily I sympathize with the purposes of the 

 Audubon Society. I would like to see all harmless wild things, but espe- 

 cially all birds, protected in every way. I do not understand how any man 

 or woman who really loves nature can fail to try to exert all influence in 

 support of such objects as those of the Audubon Society. 



Spring would not be spring without bird songs, any more than it would 

 be spring without buds and flowers, and I only wish that besides protecting 

 the songsters, the birds of the grove, the orchard, the garden and the 

 meadow, we could also protect the birds of the seashore and of the 

 wilderness. 



The Loon ought to be, and, under wise legislation could be, a feature 

 of every Adirondack lake; Ospreys, as every one knows, can be made the 

 tamest of the tame, and Terns should be as plentiful along our shores as 

 Swallows around our barns. 



A Tanager or a Cardinal makes a point of glowing beauty in the green 

 woods, and the Cardinal among the white snows. 



When the Bluebirds were so nearly destroyed by the severe winter a 

 few seasons ago, the loss was like the loss of an old friend, or at least like 

 the burning down of a familiar and dearly loved house. How immensely 

 it would add to our forests if only the great Logcotk were still found 

 among them ! 



The destruction of the Wild Pigeon and the Carolina Paroquet has 

 meant a loss as severe as if the Catskills or the Palisades were taken away. 



