1116 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



recently been found in winter in great numbers, 

 thus confirming the assertions of Audubon. In 

 the delta of the Father of Waters, flocks of 

 thousands were seen, in fact they were so 

 abundant and hungry that they were denuding 

 whole delta islands of grass as completely as it 

 could be done by a herd of sheep or an army of 

 caterpillars. 



Not only do the birds feed upon the green 

 tops and tougher stems of the pasture grasses, 

 but even dig up and devour the roots. Each 

 individual goose scoops out a hole in the mud. 

 uncovering and devouring the roots as it works, 

 and as the geese feed quite close together, these 

 rounded pits soon touch and coalesce, when the 

 birds move on to a new feeding place. They 

 keep more or less in long lines as they feed, 

 reminding one of soldier ants or the famous 

 army worms. 



The continued effect of this is to change rad- 

 ically the condition of the land. In some cases 

 the ground is so low that the slight excavations 

 fill at once with water and thus pastures are 

 altered to marshy lands. Where great numbers 

 of the birds have occupied these places as 

 roosts, the pressure of their feet has so reduced 

 the general level that actual lakes are produced, 

 in which henceforth only aquatic plants can 

 find a roothold. 



In one locality men with horses and guns 

 were hired to keep on the move all dav and 

 try to drive away the geese, but this was not 

 successful and about two thousand acres of 

 pasture lands had to be abandoned to the birds. 

 Elsewhere in the United States, one Blue Goose 

 is the average among every ten thousand other 

 geese shot; here one sees a white Snow Goose 

 to about every two or three score of Blue Geese. 

 Concentrated as these birds are in this one 

 region, it would be thought that they were in 

 constant danger of extermination, but two 

 causes will prevent this ; first their extreme 

 warv nature which keeps them away from traps 

 and bevond shot-gun range, and second, the still 

 more important fact that a good section of their 

 feeding grounds has been acquired as game pre- 

 serves, where they will be safe forever during 

 their winter sojurn in the south. 



Usuallv where birds are so numerous that 

 thev are harmful to man. as. for example, the 

 bobolinks in the rice-fields, we know where they 

 breed extending over a wide area of the con- 

 tinent. But the mystery of the Blue Goose is 

 that we have not the slighest hint of where 

 these thousands go when they rise from their 

 southern island pastures in earlv spring and 

 flv northward. It is surmised that it may be 



in Ungava, tlie great unexplored region lying 

 between Labrador and Hudson B.iy. The Es 

 quimau say that in the impenetrable bogs and 

 swamps of this land, guarded by the hosts of 

 black flies and mosquitoes, the Blue Goose 

 makes its home. 



This goose is over two feet in length. The 

 head and upper neck are white, while the rest 

 of the body and wings are a beautiful bluish 

 grey or brown. In many ways it is our hand- 

 somest wild goose, and while the only one 

 which does any real damage to man's interest, 

 it is at the same time one of the rarest, of 

 whose life history we know nothing. A few 

 have been kept in captivitv but no eggs have 

 been laid under such conditions. In Louisana 

 it is known as the Bald or White-headed Goose. 

 Die Blrji, Blue Brant and Blue Snow Goose. 

 Elsewhere it is not well enough known to have 

 received any special name. 



BREEDING BROWN PELICANS. 



Bi/ C. William Beebe, 



Cur (I for nf Bir/l.i. 



IT is a great compliment to the conditions 

 under which birds in captivity are kept 

 when such a large and wary species as the 

 Brown Pelican will breed successfully. For 

 many ^'cars these birds have played Avith sticks 

 in the large flying cage, gathering them into 

 tentative heaps and allowing them again to be 

 scattered. Two seasons ago when a severe wind 

 storm had filled the cage with a large quantity 

 of twigs, the birds seemed to receive a corre- 

 s|iondingly strong stimulation and went to 

 work with a will, erecting a firm, well-built 

 structure. One stick at a time, however small, 

 was brought in the very tip of their great beaks 

 and with the utmost seriousness added to the 

 nest, tucked in with gentle pokings. sometimes 

 only to be removed and placed elsewhere. A 

 single egg was laid but nothing came of the 

 venture. 



This vear an abundance of sticks and twigs 

 was supplied as soon as the birds were placed 

 out of doors and nest-building began at once. 

 Two pairs were thus occupied, and near the 

 edge of the water two nests were built. One 

 nest resulted in failure, but upon the single 

 egg of the second pair of Brown Pelicans, pa- 

 tient incubation soon began. 



At last the reward came and the first young 

 ])elican ever hatched north of Florida broke 



