182 BULLETIN 130, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



acea), "goose grass" (Scirptis robustus), "oyster grass" {Spartina glabra), 

 "Johnson grass" {Panicum repens), and cat-tails or "flag grass" {Typha 

 augustifolia) , and every fall are denuded by the blue geese, or brant, as they 

 are called in the Delta. The birds feed principally upon the roots of these 

 plants, but the tops of all are eaten at times, if not regularly. Each goose 

 works out a rounded hole in the mud, devouring all of the roots discovered, 

 and these holes are enlarged until they almost touch before the birds move on. 

 They maintain themselves in irregular rows while feeding, much after the 

 manner of certain caterpillars on leaves, and make almost as clean a sweep 

 of the area passed over. 



In the Belle Isle region the method of feeding is the same except that the 

 birds feed by day, but the places frequented are what are locally known as 

 " burns " ; that is, areas of marsh burned over so that new green food will 

 sooner be available for the cattle. These pastures, for the most part, are barely 

 above water level, so that the holes dug by the geese immediately fill with water. 

 Continued feeding in one area produces shallow, grass-tufted ponds, where 

 formerly there was unbroken pasture. Some of these ponds are resorted to 

 for roosting places, in which case the action of the birds' feet further deepens 

 them, and veritable lakes are produced, which the building-up influence of 

 vegetation can not obliterate for generations, and never, in fact, while the geese 

 continue to use them. 



The numbers of the blue geese are so great that these effects are not local but 

 general. At Chenjere-au-Tigre, one proprietor formerly hired from two to four 

 men at a dollar a day, furnishing them board, horses, guns, and ammunition, 

 and keeping them on the move constantly in the daytime to drive the geese 

 away. The attempt was unsuccessful, however, and fully 2,000 acres of pasture 

 were abandoned. Other proprietors had similar experience, and suffered loss 

 of the use of hundreds of acres. 



The stomachs and crops of the birds in my collection were sent to 

 the Biological Survey for examination by Mr. McAtee, who reported 

 that the contents consisted entirely of the stems of spikernsh {Eleo- 

 chaHs)^ of which those in the crops were whole and those in the giz- 

 zards finely ground. 



Mr. Hersey was told, while collecting blue geese for me in Louisi- 

 ana, that they also feed on the duck potato, one of the principal duck 

 foods in that vicinity. In his notes on their feeding habits he states : 



In reviewing my experience with the blue geese it seems that normally they 

 begin to feed about 2 p. m. and continue to do so until dark. They then fly to 

 their roosting ground, where they spend the night. Some time before daylight 

 the flocks again begin to feed, and do so until about 9 or 10 o'clock. They then 

 rest until the afternoon, usually without leaving the feeding ground. 



While feeding,, small parties are continually flying into the air and moving 

 to a new spot on the outskirts of the flock. If they see anyone approaching 

 at such times, they at once warn their companions and the whole flock takes 

 wing with great clamor. 



Behavior. — O. J. Murie has sent me some interesting notes on this 

 species in which he says : 



The blue geese are apparently not as prone to fly in the V formation as the 

 Canada geese. The flocks are often broken in a mixture of V's, bars, curves, 



