Mar., 1913 
ALLAN BROOKS— AN APPRECIATION 
75 
0 dozen scientific names glibly, we were more than pleased. In like manner, 
a cr.ab dissected at luncheon (with mayonnaise) was noted as so and so major or 
principalis, as the case might be. Casual mention of a butterfly led to quick in- 
quiry as to species, a question I was helpless to answer. 
A local bird-man, Rathbun, having been called in by tbe customs authorities 
for consultation in reference to a seizure of Japanese birds, mentioned the matter 
afterward in Brooks’s presence. He pricked up his ears at once and there was 
.soon an animated discussion on as to whether so and so of these absent exotics 
might have been gordoni or japponiens. 
Nor is it in the realm of nature alone that our artist shows a keen interest 
and a retentive memory. Art, music, literature, are aliice familiar grounds, and 
one wonders where a single gentleman very much devoted to sport out of doors, 
ever found time for all these things. 
P'ig. 20. High Tide: Long-bieeed Dowitchers at Rest 
From a photograph, copyright. 1913, by W. E. Dawson 
The only accomplishment in which Brooks will frankly admit a proficiency 
is in cooking. This is evidently a legitimate subject for bachelor pride, in vievv 
of the inevitable thrusts aimed by us over-confident familv men. But Brooks is 
humorously boastful of his triumphs in the culinary art, and to judge from his 
account of the swarms of visitors, prospectors, amateur sjiortsmen, and the like, 
who share his bachelor hospitality at Okanagan Landing, there mu.st be a good 
deal in it. In fact I gathered that one reason for his wdllingness to quft the 
Okanagan country for the winter was a desire to shake some of these fair 
fodder friends and devote himself more assiduously to his art. And really, the 
amenities of human intercourse, how^ever sweet, must give place at times to 
family cares, with the man who is wedded both to art and nature. When the 
claims of friendship become too exacting, there is nothing for it but to take to 
the woods, and this Brooks does for at least two months in every year. Of 
course he takes a friend with him, if one can be found who will hold up to his 
