Almost the entire population of these birds, which now is between 700,000 
and 800,000 is concentrated in winter on the coast of Louisiana, chiefly 
between the deltas of the Mississippi and the Sabine Rivers. Since this 
area also is the habitat of the muskrat, a fur-bearer of first importance 
in that state, and since both feed extensively upon the so-called "three 
square" grasses or bulrushes (Scirpus americanus and S. olneyi), it was 
feared that too rapid increase in the goose population might have a serious 
effect upon the fur crop. 
Mr. Gillham reports: "There is no major conflict between muskrats 
and blue geese. Of all the rat land on the Louisiana coast, probably a 
little less than 10% of it is used by geese." It is, of course, true that 
the geese do frequent some of the mskrat territory, as the tidal marshes 
on Marsh Island, the Rockefeller, Rainey and other refuges, and at times 
compete with the mskrats for food. On the other hand, in a marsh with an 
over—population of rats, these animals will eat up the food and so drive 
out the geese. In other words, the competition works both ways; it is 
moreover a local problem and should excite no more concern than any other 
case of bird damage. They are local and should be locally adjusted. The 
area assigned to an individual trapper may suffer severely but so far as 
the crop of furs from Louisiana is concerned, Mr. Gillham concluded that 
the geese did "not make a 'drop in the bucket! of difference." 
From available evidence it seems possible that the geese (blue and 
snow) are about as numerous now on the Louisiana coast as they were forty 
years ago. Because of the great areas that are closed to shooting, and 
the more or less inaccessibility of the region as a whole, the total annual 
bag by sportsmen is always small. Probably the heaviest drain on the blue 
geese is the take by Indians in the James Bay region of Canada who depend 
upon them for a part of their winter food supply. 
Upon his return from the James Bay region, H. S. Peters, operating 
from his regular headquarters at Charleston, S. C., kept under surveil- 
lance the coastal regions from Delaware south to the Florida Keys. A 
licensed airplane pilot himself, he hired small planes and made many flights 
over strategic areas. In addition, cooperation of the Coast Guard enabled 
him to cover more extensive sections of the region. 
During the early part of the fall flight, ducks came south along the 
coast in goodly numbers and there was a noticeable increase in the numbers 
of geese that reached the more southerly points. Before the end of the 
year it was apparent, however, that the south Atlantic coast was not sup- 
porting the waterfowl population that it had the previous year. This was 
later verified by the figures of the January inventory and explained, at 
least in part, by the increased number of birds that spent the winter in 
areas north of Chesapeake Bay. 
Among the features of outstanding interest was the absence of the 
great concentration of ducks that attracted so much attention in the Cape 
Sable, Florida area during the winter of 1939-40. In contrast there was 
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