1916 J Murphy, Anatidoe of South Georgia. ^11 



Bay. The immediate reason for the experiment, as Mr. Wilson 

 informed me, was that the fine bird had become persofia non grata 

 to sheep ranchers in the Falklands, because it was designed by 

 nature to feed upon grass, and hence was considered an impediment 

 to the fattening of mutton. So the Falklanders had outlawed the 

 goose, and placed a bounty upon its head. 



Mr. Wilson freed the transported birds in the admirably adapted, 

 grassy country about W^estfiord, Cumberland Bay, where they 

 increased and spread encouragingly, apparently assured of a future 

 in a land in which they would be forever untroubled by the rivalry 

 of sheep. I saw about a dozen adults in this region on December 

 9, 1912. 



Unfortunately, some of the whalemen from a neighboring sta- 

 tion have persisted in hunting the geese in defiance of the law. A 

 letter received from South Georgia during 1915 stated that the 

 number had been reduced to six or seven birds which had a very 

 slight chance of repleting the population. 



During our stay in Cumberland Bay, the cabin boy of the Daisy 

 came aboard one evening in high glee, bringing in his pockets five 

 very young upland geese which he had captured in one of the W^est- 

 fiord lakes. Ordinarily I should have been glad to receive speci- 

 mens, but in the case of this species I felt constrained to carry the 

 lively goslings back to their home, and, if the parents did not appear 

 after a time, to attempt to rear the young in captivity. But the 

 former experiment was a complete success. Arriving next morning 

 at the lake, we saw several pairs of adults lurking on the far side. 

 One of the goslings peeped, and immediately a guttural clucking 

 came in answer from across the water and a barred goose began to 

 swim straight toward us, followed at a discreet distance by the 

 snow-white gander. I put the young brood in the lake, but each 

 gosling attempted to scramble out, until it heard the call of the 

 approaching mother, when all five turned their tails and swam 

 bravely away. The parents joyfully received their family again, 

 and the flotilla disappeared around a point of land with the young- 

 sters well guarded, side by side between the goose and her pompous 

 mate. 



