GREATER SNOW GOOSE 135 



Later the birds often arrive in what appear to be family groups, which 

 sometimes include two adults to the group, but often only one. After 

 October 10, young birds form a majority of the assemblage. When the 

 freeze-up causes the departure of these geese from St. Joachim in the 

 autumn, they leave practically all together, generally by daylight, but 

 sometimes at night" (White and Lewis, 1937). 



Of the feeding habits of the Greater Snow Geese while on their win- 

 ter grounds, Howard (1940) says: "On land they feed in the marshes, 

 rarely in the sounds, but when they do go to open water, it is usually to 

 rest or to escape molestation. . . . Feeding is done usually early in the 

 morning or late in the afternoon .... also on bright moonlight nights. . . . 

 The geese select a locality where, to quote the natives, the cord grass is 

 'belly deep on a cow/ Preferred spots seem to be where the grass is 

 standing in a few inches of brackish or salt water. . . . Snow Geese do 

 not graze, but drive their bills into the sand at the base of the grass or 

 sedge and pull it out by the roots. Alter a lew weeks of feeding in this 

 manner what was once a grassy meadow becomes a shallow foul pool, 

 completely devoid of vegetation. 



"During the winter of 1937-38, Snow Geese denuded an area of 

 approximately 300 acres on Pea Island [North Carolina]. How many 

 years must elapse before these bare flats will again be clothed with suffi- 

 cient vegetation to be used as feeding grounds depends upon a number 

 of factors the soil, wind erosion and water action. On Brodie Island 

 there are wide, bare, windswept patches of sand where the geese have fed 

 in past years. Some of these barrens are known to be four or five years 

 old and yet show little or no sign of revegetation." 



The Greater Snow Goose has never been held in high esteem as a 

 game bird and its flesh is reputed to be not very palatable. 



