The Canvas -Back {Mania valisinena) 

 By Lynds Jones 



Similar to the rcdheacl, l)Ut larger, head larger, bill longer, and n(j evident 

 angle between bill and forehead; head and up])er neck reddish brown without 

 purplish gloss, blackening on crown and chin ; the sides less heavily waved with 

 duskv ; the white bars of upper parts much wider than the dusky (hence entire 

 back conspicuously Hghter in tone) ; ujiiJcr mandible dusky at base, bluish only 

 between nostril and black tip; iris red. Adult female: Siiuilar to that of preced- 

 ing species, but proportioned like male; bill correspondingly ditferent: feathers 

 of back and scapulars luore or less wa\y-l)arred with white. The female red- 

 head is sparingly speckled abo\e with dusky and whitish, but never barred. 

 Length, 20.00-23.".=;0 (.^08.-5%.')) ; wing, '».0U (228. ) ; tail. 2.90 {73.7) ; bill. 2.35 

 (39.7); tarsus. 1.7.^ (44.5). 



Recognition Marks. — Mallard size; slope of culmen continuous with fore- 

 head ; reddish brown head and light canvas back, h'or detailed compari.son with 

 . /. aiiiericaiia see above. 



\esting. — XesI on the ground of marshes and grassy sloughs, of grasses, 

 etc., lined sparingly with feathers. P-(J(ls, 6-10, but1"'y white with a greenish or 

 bluish tinge. Av. size, 2.45 x 1.75 (62.2x44.5). 



Range. — Nearly all of Xurth .\nierica, breeding from the northwestern states 

 northward to Alaska. 



'■'Pell me what \'ou eat and I will tell you what you are" might be resented 

 by a self-res])ecting human, but it ;ip])lies pretty accurately to the flavor of ducks. 

 N'arious writers are wont to extol a bircFs flesh as "tender." "juicy," "sapid," 

 "delicious," or to condeiun it as "gamy," "rank," "fishy." "unpalatalile." according 

 to traditions which ])revail locally ; so that often the testimony of no two 

 observers will agree as to a duck's fitness or unfitness for the table. The fact 

 is, however, that the flavor of wild meat is ])retty luuch what the feeding of 

 the last week or so has made it, so that it is possible for a single bird to run 

 the whole gamut from "sapid" to "fishy" in a single season. The early canvas- 

 backs were found feeding upon the rank grass, or wild celery, of Chesapeake liay, 

 and from this circuiustance has arisen a luost extravagant appreciation of its 

 fiesh — or the profession of it — which has pursued the poor duck from Manitoba 

 to the Carolinas, and nearly wrought its ruin. lUit. as Coues says, "there is little 

 reason for S(|uealing in barbaric joy over this overrated and generall}' under- 

 done bird : not one person in ten thousand can tell it from any other duck on 

 the table, and then only under the celery circumstance." The pursuit, however, 

 has been so relentless, that there has been little opportunity left for ornithol- 

 ogists to study the species quietly, and recent reports of its nesting in the 

 heavv reeds of Xorth Dakota sloughs serve only to eiuphasize our coiuparative 

 lack of knowledge of the habits and home life of the canvas-back. 



l'".\clusi\ely an Aiuerican species. ha\ing nothing in the Old \\ orld th;U 



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