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Fluctuation in Numbers of the Eastern Brant Goose

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Fluctuation in Numbers of the Eastern Brant Goose ¾ol.1932 XLIX] I PHILLIPS,T/• Eas•'nBrant Goose. 445 FLUCTUATION IN NUMBERS OF THE EASTERN BRANT GOOSE. JOHN C. PHILLIPS. IT is not oftenthat a shootingclub keeps records which are of any particularinterest from the ornithologist'sviewpoint. How- ever, the MonomoyBrant Club of Chatham,Massachusetts, has provedan exceptionfor it haskept a faithful log from 1863until the presenttime. This log is a mineof informationon the habitsof seafowl, the psychologyof sportsmenand all that pertainsto that windyneck of sand. I doubtif it canbe duplicatedanywhere. A few years ago the five neat volumesof theserecords were loanedto me by the presentSecretary of the Club, 1VIr.G. C. Porter, and I read them throughwith real delight. The father of the Club was 1VIr.Warren Hapgoodof Boston,at one time the very active Presidentof the MassachusettsFish and Game As- sociation. From 1863 to and including1909 all of the shooting wasdone in the spring,and practicallythe wholebag consistedof the Americanor EasternBrant (Brantabernida hrota). After that time springshooting was abolishedby law in Massachusetts.I feelthat somesummary of this log shouldbe available. At the presenttime when so many of our sportsmenand others are worriedover the wildfowlsituation, the extraordinarynatural fluctuationin numbersof Brant givesus foodfor thoughtand demonstratesthe remarkablepower of recuperationin onespecies, at least. The Brant cannot,of course,be compareddirectly with any other of our wildfowlin this respect,for this speciesoccupies a most peculiarniche in relation to its natural and human environ- ment. In the firstplace it is strictlylimited in winterto ice-freewaters in the southernextension of the range of the eel grass(Zostera marina). North of CapeCod the wintersare too severeand south of Pamlicoand CoreSounds in North Carolinaeel grass does not grow. Indeedit is noticeablydwarfed in thissouthern limit of its' 446 rmmr, TheEastern Brant Goose. [Oct.Auk range. Brant will eat widgeongrass, sea lettuce and other foodsif they haveto, but in the longrun they appeardependent on Zostera. Sincethese birds occupyvast open spacesof water and have the habit of packinginto largeflocks, they are very diffleultbirds to bag in largenumbers. And sincethey have,with othergeese, a rela- tively long life span, they can stand poor breedingyears better than the shorter-lived ducks and teal. Such things as pollution by mineral oils or a failure of the eel grasscrop through poor seeding years, or changesin the salinityof the water may have direct and important influenceon the well- being of this species. We appear now (1931-32) to be passing through a period of seriousZostera shortage on the Atlantic Coast. It haslong been known that duringcertain years, or sometimes for severalyears in succession,very few young Brant are reared. This fact is, of course,easily apparent because the young of the year are very conspicuousowing to the presenceof white edgingon the endsof the wing covertsand secondaries. All Brant shooters are familiar with thesemarks of immaturity. If oneplots a curve based on the number of Brant taken on the Monomoy flats by this Club from 1862 to 1909, one is struck by the astonishing irregularity of the graph. Although the conditionswere fairly constant,in so far as food and persecutionare concerned,I find several peaks of abundance, 1867,1873, 1876, 1887, 1890, 1891, 1901 and 1906. There was a notable scarcityin 1865 and a very low period from 1877 to 1886with other low pointsin 1895,1900, 1903, and from 1906 to 1909. I find this note in the log for 1882: "We feel more and more every year that if things continuefor a few years more and the birds grow fewer and fewer every year, in ten years there will not be birds enoughto renderBrant shootinga sport at all." Yet in 1887 there is the following: "Never a greaternumber of Brant passedthis Point." "This admitted by all hands." "Four million (estimated)went North betweenMarch 25 and May 2." And duringthis year the records showthat about two-thirdswere youngones. Of courseone must not take the figure four million too literally, for anyonewho has attempted to estimateflocks of large birds knowsthat the tend- Vol. XLIXl encyto over-estimateis a nearlyuniversal failing among observers. A figureabout ten percentof this wouldprobably bo nearerthe propermark. In regard to actual numbers,it may be said that continuous flocksof Brant five to sevenmile• long,and closelypacked have often beennoted in BarnegatBay, New Jerseyat one time. l•Ir. CharlesA.Urner of Elizabeth City actually counted • m••.• a eightythousand onFe•b•ary 22 __ 9•y gather- •-•-]•u•it would be unsafewithout ' further figuresto put the whole populationof the EasternBrant at anythingover one-thirdof a million birds. In proportionto their numbers,however, com- parativelyfew are shot,and protectionin the springhas beenof great bonefitto the species. Referringto the recordswe find that again in 1890 and 1891 there was good shooting,and there were enormousnumbors of Brant in the Bay so that thereseems to have beena completere- coveryafter the longcycle of depressionfrom 1877to 1886. The year 1909was the last year duringwhich spring gunning was allowedand from that time to the presentthe recordsare in no way comparable.Very few Brant stop at l•Ionomoyduring the autumn flight and in the old days it was never considered worth while to "rig" for them at all exceptin the spring. It is only fair to say that factorsother than relativeabundance enteredinto the size of an annual bag and when theseare clear cut they are noted in the table to follow. Young Brant decoy muchmore easilythan old birds, and whenfew youngones were shotduring a wholeseason, it is fairly goodevidence that not many were pre•ent. The springarrival of Brant at Monomoymay be saidto begin aboutthe secondweek in March, althoughsometimes they arrive the first week. Usually only a few spendthe winter there, but sometimesa goodmany do. The main concentrationis between l•Iarch 25 and April 20, and as a usualthing the Bay is nearly emptyof birdsby April 25. In exceptionalyears, and especially when there are plenty of youngbirds, a few lingeron into l•Iay. The youngbirds are saidto be in lessof a hurry to leavethan the old ones. 448 PHILLIPS,TheEastern Brant Goose. [Oct.Auk Somethingshould be said here about methodsof shootingat Monomoy. Previousto 1860 the shootingwas entirely in the handsof native gunnersfrom Chathamand Orleans. Oceasionally an outsiderwas invited for a week,but the living wasso hard that the sportsmenrarely came a secondtime. Mr. Hapgoodrecords that in 1862 they shot 375 Brant in nine days, while singleshots • •_•whieh baggedfrom thirty to fortybirds were not uncommon. l•-oba•ere oftentaken on the springflight on the Chathamflats. Boxes wer•-•16•m•the•an•rl-ba•md. these bars wereerossed bythe birds in going to and from their feedin Egr•mmds•. -• No wooden decoyswere used but each year wing-tippedBrant were savedalive and a flock of live deeoysgradually built up. The shootingwas nearly all doneon the water,the floeksswimming up to the bars,often in doseformation. The few nativegunners had thingsvery much to themselvesand the Brant were not un- duly disturbedon their feedinggrounds. The eombinationof live deeoyswith the Brant little disturbedby othershooters made large bagspossible in the early years. In 1862a conflictof rival native faetlonsopened a way for the organizationof a club, and a groupof sportsmenbuilt a shanty which was usedfirst in the springof 1863. Wooden decoysseem to have been introducedabout 1880 and graduallyreplaced live decoys. Shootingon the wing took the plaeeof "pot" shootingand the birds beeamewilder. By 1896 the live decoyshad nearly goneout of use. Anotherchange oeeurred when the feedingground between the flatsand Nauset, the "channel,"was filled with sandwashed in by the breachthrough Nauset Bar. This happenedin 1887and was, for a time at least, disastrousto the shootingsince the Brant did not have to fly over the placeswhere the boxeswere located. Many other changesin the geographyof the flats followedand sedgegrass began to growup near someof the old boxes. In 1886 the three clubs, Providenee,Manchester and Monomoy were merged. I presentthe followingsummary for what it may be worth. If it showsnothing else, it doespoint to the marvellousrecuperative powerof thisspeeies after periods of greatsearcity. Vol. XLIX'[ 19•2 J PHILLIPS, 449 Auk 450 PreLLits, TheEastern Brant Goose. [Oc•. vo,i•:•x] Pm•,•,•es, The •astern Brant Goose. 451 452 PHILLIPS,The E•t½• Br$•t(•oo,•½. [Oct.Auk We do not yet know what causesthe destructionof youngbirds during the bad years. The few meteorologicaltables that I have been able to gather show monthly averagetemperatures for far northernposts like Upernavik in West Greenland,but they give no indieatlonthat them is any correlationbetween a severelycold summerand scarcityof Brant the followingspring on the Ariantie Coast. More than likely a suddensevere storm eomlngat the time of yearwhen the youngam still delicatemay accountfor great lossesin otherwisenormal years. Such stormsmight not affect the meanmonthly temperatures in the Arctic at all, yet they might kill directlyor cut off the foodsupply of the downyyoung. I may be permittedbefore leaving these records to mentionthe namesof the CapeCod residentswho madethis club possible,and who contributed so much to the comfort and entertainment of the visitorsfrom the city. The namesof AlonzoNye and David B. Nye, GeorgeBearse and "Washy" (Washington)Bearse were famousin their day. In the
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