Roosevelt and Wild Life 51 



and America. He discovered that in many cases the authors had 

 placed the animals in an imaginary environment to make their color- 

 ation appear protective. When Roosevelt applied the color theories 

 to the actual field conditions he found that the coloration was. in 

 many cases, far from protective, the actual conditions of environ- 

 ment often making it astonishingly advertising. It was a great boon 

 to the study of protective coloration to have a field naturalist of the 

 wide experience of Roosevelt call attention to the numerous errors 

 of application as well as to the defective reasoning in many color 

 theories. 



As one of the naturalists of the Roosevelt African Expedition, 

 it was my especial duty to preserve for the Smithsonian Institution 

 the skins and skulls of all the game animals shot by Colonel Roose- 

 velt. I accompanied him daily in the field so as to be near when he 

 bagged the big game. The Colonel was a delightful companion, and 

 on our rides afield we had long talks together regarding game ani- 

 mals and zoology generally. He had at his command the entire 

 published literature concerning the game mammals and birds of 

 the world, a feat of memory that few naturalists possess. I felt 

 constantly while with him that I was in the presence of the foremost 

 field naturalist of our time, as indeed I was. His indelible memory 

 seemed to furnish him with all the known facts about any species 

 of game animal, or any phase of vertebrate zoology, or theories con- 

 cerning it. Whatever I might say regarding my experiences in col- 

 lecting animals in foreign lands, or as to my knowledge of animal 

 behavior, Roosevelt always understood every detail, and I was con- 

 stantly delighted by his remarks and by the keen interest he always 

 exhibited in the animal life about him. His exhaustive knowledge 

 of zoology always gave him the ability to think clearly along scien- 

 tific lines, and he was never led astray by misinformation or fan- 

 tastic theories concerning animal life. 



The Roosevelt Wild Life Forest Experiment Station will, I sin- 

 cerely hope, receive the support that will enable it to assume the 

 foremost rank among institutions devoted to the study of wild life 

 in its natural environment. It bears the name of a man whom we 

 all loved and admired for the whole-hearted way in which he devoted 

 his life to America, that it might be a better place to live in; and 

 to one whose sincerity and Americanism will ever remain a great 

 inspiration to his countrymen. It seems peculiarly fit that this insti- 

 tution should commemorate such a man as Roosevelt, whose keenest 

 enjoyment in life was the pursuit and study of animals in their 

 native haunts. 



