DENIZENS OF THE STREAM. 203 



ing easily a ripple; whereas along a larger 

 stream he must wait until he reaches boat, 

 bridge or ferry to cross, should anything on the 

 other side excite his curiosity. Here signs of 

 mink and muskrat are more plentiful; mussels 

 come closer into shore; cray-fish, impelled by 

 reversed tail-movement, scurry back to shelter of 

 leaf and rock; small scaled suckers, in serried 

 columns, nose the bottom of the deeper pools 

 and are more easily seen from shore or caught 

 with snare. Here darters of various species are 

 beneath your very eyes; while wherrymen or 

 water-striders and whirligig beetles come easily 

 within reach of net. Algae, too, are reached 

 more easily, and where the stream runs over a 

 floor of limestone, assume a deeper green in hue. 



Here also, bird life, such as swamp, song and 

 fox sparrows and others of the tribe of finches ; 

 warblers, wagtails, wrens and kingfishers come 

 closer to you, are seemingly more at home and 

 can be more easily approached than along the 

 broader lowlands of the wider streams. 



Farther down, the brook cuts through a gorge 

 of sandstone, where masses of polypody fern, 



