GEESE 



157 



reality, niiie-tentlis of tliein. I'lue Gccse. The 

 Canada Geese did not consort with them, and 

 there were only a few White-fronted and Snow 

 Geese in their company. 



At daybreak they could aUvays be found out 

 on the flats ofT from the exits of certain 

 "passes" into the (iulf. They kept up a tre- 

 mendous clamor which could be heard a couple 

 of miles avyay. lleing exceedinsjly shy, they 

 would rise and disappear up or down the C(jast 

 if anyone approached within half a mile of them ; 

 consequently even the market gunners get very 

 few. Farther westward, on the Wild Life Re- 

 fuges, they make rendezvous for the night in 



Texas, hundreds of thousands being concentrated 

 within a comjiarativelv slKjrt coast-line. 



In lanuarv, igi6. 1 had a remarkable experi- 

 ence with I'.Iue Geese. On a certain point on the 

 shore of Vermilion Ray. La., there is a rather 

 small gravel-spit, known as " the goose-bank," to 

 which from time imniemoiial. great numbers of 

 (7ieese have always resorted during the winter to 

 eat gravel for digesting their food. Wishing to 

 secure photographs and moti(.)n pictures of Blue 

 Geese, we built a blind at one end of this spit, 

 scattered corn, and returned some four weeks 

 later. The weather was bad and the Geese did 

 not show up. After five days of dreary waiting 





1 



Phulu by li. K. J 



C^jurtusy of Nat. .-Xs 



BUTE GEESE 

 The photographer waited five days to get this picture 



certain localities on the marshes. At Gheniers 

 au Tigres the cattle men complained that these 

 great hordes of Geese, spending the nights, and 

 sometimes days, on the marshes used for pastur- 

 ing cattle, ])ulled uj) every root of the grass from 

 many acres, creating depressions which filled 

 with water and became ponds. The cattle men 

 actually had youths employed to ride about on 

 horseback and shoot at the Geese to drive them 

 ofT. 



They breed very far north, perhaps on the 

 Arctic islands north of the American continent. 

 Very little is known about its breeding habits. 

 It is a remarkable fact that in winter nearly the 

 whole of the s])ecies in a body seems to resort to 

 the Gulf coast of Louisiana, or not further than 



amid fog and hosts of mos(piiloes, jKitience had 

 its reward. 



Hardly was I hidden in the blind that morn- 

 ing before the Geese began to come. After 

 considerable circling they alighted on the shore 

 and came up to get the gravel. The " seance " 

 lasted four Imurs. and during that time I had 

 upwards of a thousand Blue Geese, and a few 

 .Snow Geese, within as near as six feet. They 

 ate, drank, bathed, and dozed, without any 

 suspicion of my presence. Noisy fellows, they 

 talked so much that they seemed not to hear the 

 clattering of the ])icture machine, even when only 

 a dozen feet away. It was one of the most 

 thrilling experiences of a lifetime. 



IfF.RnRKT K. [OB. 



