On this date in 1898, Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders had their date with destiny on San Juan Hill.
TR was not the only birder in Cuba that day. A year later, an English journalist stopped off at the American Museum to tell Frank Chapman his story:
I noticed at San Juan a bird which seemed to be much alarmed by the firing. He hopped from the bushes to the lower branches of trees, and then, limb by limb, reached the tree tops.
Chapman was able to identify the bird “readily” from his interlocutor’s description as a Great Lizard Cuckoo.
I wonder: Did Chapman ever get an answer to his question?
