CANVAS-BACK DUCK. I49 



Dall found it breeding at Fort Yukon, in Alaska. Mr. 

 Ross met with it on Great Slave Lake ; and other north- 

 ern observers have detected it throughout the fur coun- 

 tries. Besides this, Captain Bendire found it breeding 

 in Oregon, and Dr. Newberry believed that he had ob- 

 tained evidence of its nesting in the Cascade range. 

 The nest of the canvas-back is large and well built, and 

 is lined with down and feathers, plucked from the 

 breast of the mother bird. The eggs are grayish-green 

 in color and number from seven to nine. 



On their return from the North the canvas-backs 

 reach the United States late in October or early in No- 

 vember. They are hardy birds, and it seems that it 

 takes cold weather to drive them southward. On the 

 New England coast they are very rare, though a few 

 used to be killed there. On Long Island they scarcely 

 ever occur of late years, nor are they found in great 

 numbers on the Virginia coast. In North Carolina, how- 

 ever, and along the open broad waters which fringe 

 that State and South Carolina, canvas-backs are very 

 abundant. They used to be so, also, in the Chesapeake 

 Bay, but continual gunning and the destruction of 

 their feeding grounds by frequent floods, which kill 

 the plants on which they subsist, have made them there 

 much less abundant than they used to be. The shoot- 

 ing grounds in Chesapeake Bay and Susquehanna Flats, 

 which a few years ago afforded such good gunning that 

 they were bought or rented at fabulous prices, are no 

 longer so much frequented by the birds, and have be- 

 come much less valuable. 



