144 THE CA^VASS-BACE DVOK. 



forty feet, immediately over a shoal of grass, and took tlieii 

 stand on the shore in a hut of brush, each having thre^ 

 guns well loaded with large shot. The Ducks, which were 

 flying up and down the river, in great extremity, soon 

 crowded to this place, so that the whole open space was not 

 only covered with them, but vast numbers stood on the ice 

 around it. They had three rounds, firing both at once, Mid 

 picked up eighty-eight Canvass-Backs, and might have col- 

 lected more, had they been able to get to the extremity of 

 the ice after the wounded ones. 



In the severe winter of 1779-80, the grass, on the roots 

 of which these birds feed, was almost wholly destroyed in 

 James river. In the month of January, the wind continued 

 to blow from W. N. W. for twenty-one days, which caused 

 Buch low tides in the river, that the grass froze to the ice 

 everywhere ; and, a thaw coming on suddenly, the whole 

 was raised by the roots, and carried off by the freshet. The 

 next winter, a few of these Ducks were seen, but they soon 

 went away again ; and, for many years after, they continued 

 to be scarce; and, even to the present day, in the opinion 

 of my informant, have never been so plenty as before. 



The Canvass-Back, in the rich juicy tenderness of its 

 flesh, and its delicacy of flavour, stands unrivalled by the 

 whole of its tribe in this or perhaps in any other quarter 

 of tiie world. Those killed in the waters of the Chesapeake 

 ire generally esteemed superior to all others doubtless from 

 tihe great abundance of their favourite food which thest 



