110 CANVAS-BACK DUCK. 



latter of which nearest the body are finely edged with deep velvety 

 black, the former dusky at the tips ; tail very short, pointed, consisting 

 of fourteen feathers of a hoary brown ; vent and tail coverts black ; 

 lining of the wing white ; legs and feet very pale ash, the latter three 

 inches in width, a circumstance which partly accounts for its great 

 powers of swimming. 



The female is somewhat less than the male, and weighs two pounds 

 and three-quarters ; the crown is blackish brown, cheeks and throat of 

 a pale drab ; neck dull brown ; breast as far as the black extends on 

 the male, dull brown skirted in places with pale drab ; back dusky 

 white crossed with fine waving lines ; belly of the sanve dull white, pen- 

 cilled like the back ; wings, feet, and bill, as in the male ; tail coverts 

 dusky, vent white waved with brown. 



The windpipe of the male has a large flattish concave labyrinth, the 

 ridge of which is covered with a thin transparent membrane ; where the 

 trachea enters this it is very narrow, but immediately above swells to 

 three times that diameter. The intestines are wide, and measure five 

 feet in length. 



Note. — It is a circumstance' calculated to excite our surprise, that 

 the Canvas-back, one of the commonest species of our country, a Duck 

 which frequents the waters of the Chesapeake in flocks of countless 

 thousands, should yet have been either overlooked by the naturalists of 

 Europe, or confounded with the Pochard, a species whose characters are 

 so obviously different. But that this is the fact I feel well assured, 

 since I have carefully examined every author of repute, to which I 

 have had access, and have not been enabled to find any description 

 which will correspond to the subject before us. The species, then, we 

 hope, will stand as Wilson's own ; and it is no small addition to the fame 

 of the American Ornithology that it contains the first scientific account 

 of the finest Duck that any country can boast of. 



The Canvas-back frequents the Delaware in considerable numbers. 

 The Valisneria grows pretty abundantly, in various places, from Bur- 

 lington, New Jersey, to Eagle Point, a few miles below Philadelphia. 

 Wherever this plant is found there will the Ducks be ; and they will 

 frequently venture within reach of their enemies' weapons rather than 

 abstain from the gratification of their appetite for this delicious food. 

 The shooters in the neighborhood of Philadelphia for many years were 

 in the habit of supplying our markets with this species, which always 

 bore the name of Red-heads or Red-necks ; and their ignorance of its 

 being the true Canvas-back was cunningly fostered by our neighbors of 

 the Chesapeake, who boldly asserted that only their waters were favored 

 with this species, and that all other Ducks, which seemed to claim 

 aflBnity, were a spurious race, unworthy of consanguinity. Hence at 



