Remarks on the colouration of birds
In this essay, young Theodore Roosevelt remarks on the coloring of birds and its significance.
Collection
Creation Date
1870-1874
Your TR Source
Birds--Color
Letter from Abel Chapman to Theodore Roosevelt
Abel Chapman thanks Theodore Roosevelt for his letter and pamphlet on the coloration of birds and mammals, praising Roosevelt’s arguments and emphasizing the value of field observation over theory.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-09-13
Creator(s)
Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Frank M. Chapman
Theodore Roosevelt writes Frank M. Chapman of his wish that he could work exclusively as a naturalist — or the more modern “biologist.” He will look at Camps and Cruises, page 235, to see how Chapman views the relationship between color and haunt and may include a few sentences if the galley proofs of Roosevelt’s article arrive. Roosevelt is “well aware that there are plenty of men who could have done this criticism much better” and he would rather do the work than have it left undone. He encloses a page to go in an appropriate place and will include a long footnote to address Thayer’s Popular Science Monthly criticism, even though Thayer’s opinion changes from one page to another.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-07-05
Creator(s)
Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Frank M. Chapman
Theodore Roosevelt writes to Frank M. Chapman about the Popular Science article and a criticism of Roosevelt’s “Appendix E” by Thayer, in a letter to the Tribune. He also finds Chapman’s Trinidad article very interesting and disagrees on several points about the birds of Trinidad, although he concedes that Chapman’s experience and training is greater than his own. Roosevelt further discusses his arguments about the coloration, cover, behavior, and habit of birds in the United States, Africa, and Latin America. He thanks Chapman for the interest in his article, thoroughly enjoyed his visit the other day, and will take his notes on the galley sheets into advisement. He returns The Awk and Osborn’s copy of Nature. In the addendum, Roosevelt answers Thayer’s criticism in the Popular Science magazine.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-06-29
Creator(s)
Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt wishes he could have seen Ted’s speech in church so it was nice to hear about it in the letter. It would have been nice to have seen Eleanor, Mrs. Alexander, and Fair. Roosevelt asks that Ted thank Mrs. Alexander for her letters. He notes that his predictions for the next election are the same as Ted’s, believing that Taft will get the nomination because La Follette is falling behind. Roosevelt also expresses relief that his speech-making days are done and closes with the promise of a pamphlet on bird and mammal coloration, as Roosevelt is waiting on its delivery from the American Museum.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-06-20
Creator(s)
Letter from Henry Cabot Lodge to Theodore Roosevelt
Senator Lodge encloses an article he wrote regarding an incident in the lives of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-05-29
Creator(s)
Letter from Henry Fairfield Osborn to Theodore Roosevelt
Henry Fairfield Osborn, president of the American Museum of Natural History, is concerned that biologist Carl Ethan Akeley is concealing his illness. Osborn also expresses his interest in Theodore Roosevelt’s study of concealing coloration and has referred his letter to the Committee on Publication. The museum also welcomes the donation of Egyptian birds and Osborn hopes Roosevelt will lunch with him soon.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-04-26
Creator(s)
Letter from Charles A. Kofoid to Theodore Roosevelt
Charles A. Kofoid sends Theodore Roosevelt Henry Chester Tracy’s paper examining white tail markings in Passerine birds. Tracy researched the collections of the University of California’s new vertebrate museum, which he hopes Roosevelt will visit while in California.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-01-26
Creator(s)
The undescribed juvenal plumage of the Yucatan jay
William Beebe discusses that a previously undescribed coloration of Yucatan jays is attributed to age, not sex.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-12-05
Creator(s)
Letter from Joseph Bucklin Bishop to Theodore Roosevelt
Joseph Bucklin Bishop thanks Theodore Roosevelt for his article on bird coloration and praises his writing. He recalls the coloration and songs of the birds and hawks of his childhood in detail. He also has a collection of photographs. He mentions that he does not know how President William H. Taft could possibly be re-elected.
Collection
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
Creation Date
1911-09-20
Creator(s)
Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Thomas Barbour
Theodore Roosevelt writes Thomas Barbour, the curator of reptiles and amphibians at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, to criticize Abbott Handerson Thayer’s article in The Auk. Roosevelt was amused at Thayer’s allusion to Barbour and John C. Phillips and does not understand how naturalists can take him seriously. He calls him “fundamentally dishonest” regarding theories about bird coloration.
Collection
Creation Date
1911-10-26
Creator(s)
Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Thomas Barbour
Theodore Roosevelt writes Thomas Barbour, the curator of reptiles and amphibians at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, to relay Kermit Roosevelt’s address in Brazil. Roosevelt is pleased with Barbour’s collecting trip in East Cuba. He asks Barbour to write John C. Phillips and have him observe “the desert or Isabella chat, and the black and white chat,” as Roosevelt believes the species behavior is due to their coloration. He invites Barbour and his wife to lunch.
Collection
Creation Date
1912-01-04