218 
FOREST AND STREAM 
May, 1919 
FOREST STREAM 
FORTY-EIGHTH YEAR 
FOUNDERS OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETY 
GOVERNING BOARD: 
OEOHGE BIRD GRINNELL, New York, N. Y. 
CARL E. AEELEY, American Museum of Natural History, New York 
FRANK S. DAGGETT, Museum of Science, Los Angeles, Cal. 
EDMITND HELLER, Smithsonian Institution, Washinrton, D, C. 
0, H ART MERRIAM, Biological Survey, Washington, D. C. 
WILFRED H. OSGOOD, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, 111. 
lOHN 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 
atudiously promote a healthful interest in outdoor rec- 
reation, and a refined taste for natural objects. 
August 14, 1873. 
BROOKS AND PREPAREDNESS 
A FEW weeks before the opening of the trout 
fishing season nearly every enthusiastic angler 
begins to make preparations for the forthcoming 
days of sport. If he has not done so during the 
winter months, he gets out his tackle, carefully goes 
over it in the way of cleaning and making any neces- 
sary repairs, as well as adding any new articles by 
way of replacement or as a supplementary addition. 
He leaves nothing undone that he may be in readi- 
ness at his first opportunity to get out on the brooks. 
But there is another phase of preparedness about 
which very little is said. It is the selecting of brooks. 
There are many anglers whose business calls them 
to many towns in as many different states. At the 
present time much of this travel is done across coun- 
try by means of the automobile and en route many 
excellent brooks are frequently passed. The angler 
gazes at them admiringly but, as a rule, that is about 
all that he does. When the season opens he goes to 
his favorite brook, or a few favorite brooks, and 
gets all the pleasure possible. But if he has con- 
siderable time to devote to the sport his supply of 
brooks is pretty likely to run out and he wants to 
try some new ones. It is then that he has to get 
busy and make inquiries where to go, whereas if 
during his journey ings about the country he had 
stopped for a moment or two at a house near a prom- 
ising stream and found out all he could about the 
fishing conditions there and noted it in a little book 
kept for that purpose, he would know just where to 
go when the opportunity was presented. Frequently 
a brook may be posted but by talking with the land- 
owner he may get permission to fish it. This is very 
often the case. Many times a landowner will post 
a stream for the purpose of keeping off a certain 
few who may have raised havoc with fences and 
caused much damage to crops because of stock going 
through the torn-down fence. I have known of sev- 
eral such cases. If, on the other hand, an angler 
promises and lives up to his promise that he will do 
no damage to fences or trample through growing 
crops, he will be given a vocal ticket of entry to 
the exclusive domains. 
We know an ardent fisherman who, whenever he 
visits other towns, makes it a business to get in touch 
with landowners who have good trout streams, finds 
out all he can about the streams, whether they con- 
tain many trout and their average size. It makes no 
difference to him whether he is attending a political 
gathering in a city, or whether he is out to purchase 
a cow or a horse, whichever it may be, he never for- 
gets about the “business” of the trout streams. And 
that angler catches more trout every season and gets 
more fun out of the game than any other fisherman 
we know. He doesn’t have to sit dovm and think 
where to go when he’s ready for a start. He’s al- 
ways prepared, you see. And he knows all the early 
brooks and all the late brooks and the brooks that 
can be fished with success both early and late. 
And there’s a point that is worthy of attention. 
Many a fisherman w’ho has but few days which he 
can devote to the sport, wastes many golden hours 
by sticking on some stream which is useless to fish 
early and vice versa. There are such streams in 
every locality. This point, then, should be inquired 
into along with all other possible information re- 
garding the brooks. 
The plan which we have mentioned takes but a 
few moments of one’s time and, if carefully and 
tactfully followed out, will bring rewards a-plenty 
in return. 
MAN IS ONLY AN IMITATOR 
TN a volume entitled, “Vestiges of Creation,” a most 
^ interesting and scholarly work, written by the 
English author and scientist Chamberlain, there oc- 
curs this passage : 
“The lower animals manifest mental phenomena 
long before man existed. While as yet there was no 
brain capable of working out a mathematical prob- 
lem, the economy of the six-sided figure was ex- 
emplified by the instinct of the bee. Ere human 
musician had whistled or piped, the owl hooted in 
B flat; the cuckoo had her song of a falling third, 
and the chirp of the cricket was in B.” 
This was written in England. The “falling third” 
of the cuckoo, would seem to apply to the notes of 
the golden crowned sparrow; our lovely little song- 
ster of today. 
It is a difficult task to transcribe correctly the 
songs and notes of birds. What with their slurs, 
semi-tones and quarter-tones, it requires a musical 
ear both keen and cultured to portray them. Keeler, 
of Berkeley, among others, in his “Bird Notes 
Afield,” has been very successful in accomplishing 
this. 
“But we might add that the honey-bee was not the 
only one of God’s creatures who, long before man, 
exemplified construction upnn purely scientific prin- 
ciples,” writes Henry R. Browne, of Piedmont, Cal. 
“We all know the principle of the fireless cooker, 
with the lining of felt, or something on that order, 
made to conserve and retain heat. Y"et the nest of 
the humming bird, a marvel of beauty and workman- 
ship, outstrips this invention of man. 
The exterior of the nest, exquisitely built of green 
moss, blends so delicately with the foliage of the 
tree that it is almost impossible to find it. The in- 
terior is lined, with thistle down, soft, yet laid in and 
woven so compactly that neither cold nor dampness 
can reach the microscopic eggs. 
