138 GEESE 



with white head and neck, and pink to lilac feet and legs render it easy 

 and certain of identification in adult form. Once known it is never for- 

 gotten, nor confused with any other species" (Soper, 1930). 



In the following words Bent (1925) aptly described the Blue Goose 

 situation up to a recent date: "The Blue Goose is one of the few North 

 American birds which we know only as a migrant and a winter resident, 

 and within the narrowest limits. It has generally been regarded as a rare 

 species, but it is really astonishingly abundant within the narrow con- 

 fines of its winter home on the coast of Louisiana. Its apparent rarity is 

 due to the fact that on its migration to and from this favorite resort 

 it seldom straggles far from its direct route to and from its unknown 

 breeding range. To find the breeding resorts of the Blue Goose is one 

 of the most alluring of the unsolved problems in American ornithology. 

 It is really surprising that such a large and conspicuous species, which 

 is numerically so abundant, can disappear so completely during the 

 breeding season." 



On June 26, 1929, however, J. Dewey Soper, acting under the direc- 

 tion of the Department of the Interior, Ottawa, Canada, discovered the 

 nesting grounds of the Blue Goose, and so this outstanding hiatus in 

 American ornithology was definitely filled. In a bulletin, "The Blue 

 Goose," issued by the Department of the Interior, Ottawa, Canada, 

 Soper describes, in epic style, the event of his discovery, and unfolds a 

 tale of Arctic exploration and polar research which is of absorbing 

 interest. This "Life Story" of the Blue Goose is taken largely from 

 Soper's bulletin, and all quotations in this story are from Soper's work 

 unless otherwise designated. 



The search for the breeding grounds of the Blue Goose lasted inter- 

 mittently from 1923 to 1929. During this time by various means of 

 progression directly and indirectly concerned with the work, an approxi- 

 mate distance of 30,300 miles was covered. The discovery is unique in 

 that it was made as a "result of direct and intentional research, in con- 

 tradistinction to fortuitous discovery as has been the case with many 

 other polar species." In the course of the search many places were vis- 

 ited Ellesmore, Devon and Baffin Islands, as well as points in Green- 

 land, Labrador and on the Hudson Strait coast of northern Quebec. 



The Blue Goose was finally found nesting on a portion of the great 

 western tundra of Baffin Island, the nesting area occupying a "compara- 

 tively narrow strip of low coastal plain on the eastern shore of Bowman 

 Bay, Foxe Basin." This district presents, "superficially at least, a polar 

 panorama of far-reaching desolation; of vast, sodden marsh-lands 

 bounded by the reeking mud flats and the everlasting ice of Foxe Basin; 

 of a gloomy land, haunted by leaden skies and harassed by chilling 

 gales of rain and snow. In such a land the young Blue Goose is born 

 and raised to take his part in the long fall flight to the softer clime of 

 his winter home on the coast of Louisiana." 



Another breeding ground of the Blue Goose was discovered in the 

 spring of 1930 by G. M. Sutton, on Cape Kendal, Southampton Island, 



