120 Union Bay 



marsh may be only temporary, for as soon as the unprotected 

 trees are consumed it must move to other localities, or so 

 change its food habits that it will eat the smaller vegetation 

 of the marsh. It will be interesting to watch developments. 



The third mammal is the coypu, a rodent brought from 

 South America with the intention of producing its fur, known 

 as nutria, on fur farms. For some reason the quality of furs 

 produced in this section has not compared favorably with 

 that produced in its native country and the furs did not bring 

 prices sufficient to justify the maintenance of the industry. 

 Animals have been released or have escaped. Now they are 

 beginning to appear in many places and the reports received 

 indicate much trouble in the future. They are said to be 

 raiders of domestic gardens and to be most destructive; they 

 do harm with their bank tunneling; and they may displace 

 the comparatively inoffensive muskrats which have long been 

 residents. Reports about them come in from new sections, 

 and it is feared that they will soon become a serious factor 

 for evil since they have been seen and have become estab- 

 lished but a few miles away. 



As could naturally be expected, the greatest local changes 

 are in the bird life. There has been a steady shifting in the 

 register of marsh bird residents. Much of it has been due to 

 the increase in population in the district and to the different 

 conditions produced by that increase. The sooty and ruffed 

 grouse, once common, left when the trees were- cut. The 

 bluebirds and the woodpeckers have thinned out for the 

 same reason. The creepers and such visitors as the Townsend 

 solitaire are practically never seen. The Canada jay, the 

 camp robber of the lumbermen, has retired to the timbered 

 hills. 



But all is not on the debit side. The California quail and 

 the ring-necked pheasant are heard in localities that used to 

 echo the spring hooting of the sooty grouse and the drum- 

 ming of the ruffed grouse. These birds find good shelter— the 



