ork. While he was verifying his
observation I was in Sullivan County verifying this report. I saw and
questioned persons who had seen the pigeons, and I came away fully
convinced that a flock of probably a thousand birds had been seen
there late in the afternoon of May 23. "You need have no doubt about
it," said the most competent witness, an old farmer. "I lived here
when the pigeons nested here in countless numbers forty years ago. I
know pigeons as I know folks, and these were pigeons."

[Illustration: HALLWAY, SAGAMORE HILL

From stereograph, copyright 1907, by Underwood & Underwood,
New York]

I mention this incident of the pigeons because I know that the fact
that they have been lately seen in considerable numbers will be good
news to a large number of readers.

The President's nature-love is deep and abiding. Not every bird
student succeeds in making the birds a part of his life. Not till you
have long and sympathetic intercourse with them, in fact, not till you
have loved them for their own sake, do they enter into and become a
part of your life. I could quote many passages from President
Roosevelt's books which show how he has felt and loved the birds, and
how discriminating his ear is with regard to their songs. Here is
one:--

"The meadow-lark is a singer of a higher order [than the plains
skylark], deserving to rank with the best. Its song has length,
variety, power, and rich melody, and there is in it sometimes a
cadence of wild sadness inexpressibly touching. Yet I cannot say that
either song would appeal to others as it appeals to me; for to me it
comes forever laden with a hundred memories and associations--with the
sight of dim hills reddening in the dawn, with the breath of cool
morning winds blowing across lonely plains, with the scent of flowers
on the sunlit prairie, with the motion of fiery horses, with all the
strong thrill of eager and buoyant life. I doubt if any man can judge
dispassionately the bird-songs of his own country; he cannot
disassociate them from the sights and sounds of the land that is so
dear to him."

Here is another, touching upon some European song-birds as compared
with some of our own: "No one can help liking the lark; it is such a
brave, honest, cheery bird, and moreover its song is uttered in the
air, and is very long-sustained. But it is by no means a musician of
the first rank. The nightingale is a performer of a very different and
far higher order;