108 BIRDS OF THE WEST 



CANVASBACK DUCK. 



What a reputation this duck has! But like every other good 

 thing it has its imitation as well as its reputation. The widgeon 

 or bald-pate is the name of the duck that is often sold in swell 

 restaurants for the canvasback and the principal difference in 

 taste is that the bald-pate is sweeter and tenderer. Why not? 

 Does not the canvasback duck dive and swim to the bottom of tlie 

 pond to pull up the wild celery (eel grass) only to find when it 

 reaches the surface that a bald-pate is there to take it away from 

 him and eat it? Thus the bald-pate gets the celery and the can- 

 vasback gets the exercise. Redheads too, get palmed oli as cau- 

 vasbacks, for the birds resemble each other so much that when 

 a few of the tell-tale wing feathers are pulled out of the redhead, 

 an expert has to guess them apart. As far as good, juicy ducks 

 go, the redhead, bald-pate, the spoon-bill, the blue bill, the mallard, 

 the teal and the pin-tail all have admirers who prefer them to the 

 canvasback. The really poor duck you know is the one that 

 eats the most fishes for he takes the fish flavor and chasing them 

 toughens his muscles. 



"Sweet land of liberty!" And land of license too. How 

 many are the ducks shot in the springtime when they are 

 gentlest, for love is warming in their fluffy breasts and they are 

 choosing their mates for the season. Thin and tired from their 

 long migration, the pot-hunters have a merry springtime knock- 

 ing them down. Let them shoot the canvas-backs in the fall, if 

 they will. They will earn the name of sportsmen if they get more 

 than they can carry, for the canvasback is a clever and watchful 

 bird. But shooting them in the springtime? It's like taking 

 candy from a baby. 



A man told me recently that he never shot the female ducks, 

 but only the males as he did not wish to break up their nesting. 

 He is a very wise man and could probably tell a drone from a 

 honey-bee if he saw them flying through the air. As a matter 

 of fact few gunners can tell them apart after they (the ducks) 

 are dead. So imagination and self-deception are used to justify 

 wrongdoing. 



