594 
FOREST AND STREAM 
November, 1920 
FOREST^STREAM 
FORTY-NINTH YEAR 
FOUNDERS OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETY 
ADVISORY BOARD 
GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL, New York, N. Y, 
CARL E. AKELEY, American Museum of Natural History, New York. 
EDMUND HELLER, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. 
WILFRED H. OSGOOD, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, 111, 
JOHN M. PHILLIPS, Pennsylvania Game Commission, Pittsburgh, Pa, 
CHARLES SHELDON, Washington, D, C. 
GEORGE SHIRAS, 3rd, Washington, D. C. 
WILLIAM BRUETTE, Editor 
JOHN P. HOLMAN, Associate Editor 
TOM WOOD, Manager 
Nine East Fortieth Street, New York. City 
THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL WILL BE TO 
studiously promote a healthful interest in outdoor rec- 
reation, and a refined taste for natural objects. 
August 14, 1873. 
NOVEMBER 
S ELDOM are the marshes, the meadows and the 
woodlands so beautiful as at the present time. 
The red maples of the swamps are aflame with color 
that is accentuated by the dark green of the scrub 
pine and the shading of that color through oak and 
birch and beech and pussy willow; the now bright 
purple of the iron-weed flower of every roadside, 
the yellow and brown of the goldenrod and the 
brown-eyed susan, those homely flowers whose place 
in the hearts of all outdoor people is forever fixed. 
Here and there an ivy-festooned snag blazes with 
color in the rays of the setting sun, and a single 
purpling leaf picked out in the mass of green of the 
gum tree marks the effect of chill nights and heavy 
frosts. 
For a while there was a dearth of birds in places 
where they were numerous in midsummer, but of a 
sudden there came a great host of robins at night- 
fall and the marsh was enlivened with the cries of 
blackbirds seeking resting places. With the approach 
of another dawn they resumed their flight south- 
ward and more birds from the north took their places 
as the afternoon shadows grew long. Like seasoned 
campers, these migrants make an early stop for the 
night and are away in the bracing air of the dawn 
of a new day. 
A season of unrest among the feathered tribe, the 
present is also a season of great activity for the 
men and women smitten with the hunting fever. 
While the anglers and the summer outers are home- 
ward bound, the tide of travel to the game regions 
is growing stronger. The best season of the year, 
in the hunters’ estimation, is at hand. 
LET’S GET TOGETHER 
'T HE weak spot in all attempts to secure better pro- 
1 tection of natural things is the entire lack of 
organization among outdoor people. A large share 
of the public is interested in outdoor life — in the 
sports practised in the open air, in nature and its 
study— the way of the bird in th„e air, of the beast 
on the earth, of the plant as it turns toward the 
light. Too often this interest goes no further than 
the consideration of their own enjoyment. They 
do not regard the general good nor do they think of 
the needs in such matters of their children or their 
children’s children. 
Yet an ever-increasing number of people is com- 
ing to feel that we of the United States, who possess 
such undeveloped resources, should stop trying to 
exploit them all at once and for our own immediate 
benefit, and should consider also the future and the 
needs of those who are to come after us. 
Many of those who feel this are Avorking hard to 
carry out their ideas. Legislatures are asked to 
pass better laws for protection of forests, streams, 
fish and game, to authorize replanting regions 
stripped of timber, to prevent stream pollution and 
to protect stream headjs. Yet, of all this work much 
is being done unintelligently and to little purpose. 
The reason is obvious. Outdoor people, nature 
lovers and conservationists are working without es- 
tablished organization or definite plan, and without 
knowledge of Ayhat is being done by others interested 
in the same thing. The conservation idea has taken 
hold of the public mind, but is only vaguely under- 
stood and has a different meaning in different 
localities. 
If all the people who desire the same thing could 
get together, thresh out their ideas, decide on a defi- 
nite course, and then act together, the work in which 
they are so deeply interested would move forward 
much faster. In the physical sense they cannot get 
together, for they are scattered over the whole coun- 
try — a few here and a few there. What they might 
do with profit is to endeavor to win over to their 
own way of thinking their neighbors and associates, 
and then to take up in Forest and Stream the ques- 
tions that interest them, discuss them there, and by 
means of such discussion learn what other people 
are doing, what the different sections of the country 
need, and finally what action will be most effective 
to secure results. 
Efforts to influence legislation, even by a large 
number of people, rarely accomplish much, unless 
these men work together. The political party that 
has the best organization wins the most victories 
Those who love outdoor life and who believe that 
outdoor things should constantly be better safe- 
guarded, will not secure this end until they recog- 
nize that a wider public sentiment must be aroused 
and that this feeling must have organized expression 
if it is to carry weight. All over the land the neigh- 
bors and friends of the enthusiastic conservationists 
must be convinced that the public good demands the 
better protection of our natural resources, water 
soil, forests and life. 
LOOK BEFORE YOU SHOOT 
I N the Adirondacks the deer hunting season opened 
October 15th, and a number of hunters have gone 
there to take advantage of the presumed tameness 
of the deer for the first few days. Many deer will 
no doubt be killed, but it will not take them long to 
become aware of the fact that the season has opened. 
, . killing of the deer is likely to come also 
the killing of some of the hunters. This is a natural 
result of the ambition of persons wholly without 
hunting experience to use modern rifles in the woods. 
In the excitement of striving to kill a deer such per- 
sons are likely to fire at some ipoving object which 
they suppose to be a deer, but which may be a man. 
