.
Roosevelt proved to have an ear for birdsong and quickly familiarised himself with the calls and notes Grey expertly identified for him. Roosevelt was particularly impressed with the song of the Blackbird later writing -
“I had already heard Nightingales in abundance near Lake Como, and had also listened.to larks, but I had never heard either the blackbird, the song thrush, or the blackcap warbler; and while I knew that all three were good singers, I did not know what really beautiful singers they were. Blackbirds were very abundant and they played a prominent part in the chorus which we heard throughout the day ……I knew that he was a singer, but I really had no idea how fine a singer he was…………It is a fine thing for England to have such an asset of the countryside, a bird so common, so much in evidence, so fearless, and such a really beautiful singer”.
Roosevelt was also struck by the apparent abundance of larger birds such as “coots, water hens, grebes, tufted ducks, pigeons and peewits” thinking that places in America “as thickly settled as the Itchen” would be unlikely to hold such numbers and hoping that true American sportsman should not kill out birds which could be shot in legitimate numbers.
The two men rejoined the motor car a few miles and a few hours later at a village inn and journeyed to the wild uncultivated heath of the New Forest where they continued their birdwatching expedition. Roosevelt later wrote of his time with Edward Grey – “altogether I passed no pleasanter twenty-four hours during my entire European trip”. |
