378 Fay, The Canvas-hack in Massachusetts. [bet. 



a boat near the pumping station we went through a long lead, 

 which is filled with a pond weed {Potamogeton nuttalli) which is a 

 fair duck food. We then entered a cove and followed it up around 

 the first point to the right and into the next cove. I found the 

 bottom of these coves carpeted with wild celery and a species of 

 pond weed {Potamogeton pcrfoliatus), known as redhead or duck 

 grass. There were no other important plants. I was very much 

 interested in finding wild celery there, as I had heard that pond is 

 the best in the State for Redheads and Canvas-backs. ..." 



This letter is not only interesting but conclusive as to the reason 

 for the abundance of the ducks in this pond, for everyone knows 

 the attraction wild celery has for Canvas-backs. What I have 

 been unable to solve is how and when the celery took root there. 

 For although I have asked and written a number of local gunners 

 no one seems to know whether it was planted there artificially or 

 not. The theory often advanced that ducks spread the growth 

 of aquatic plants by carrying the small seeds in particles of mud 

 adhering to their feet and legs might possibly account for it. 



Though this plant explains why the Canvas-backs frequent 

 certain ponds in preference to others, it does not give the reason 

 for their increase in numbers in this State. In the first place, 

 this wild celery has undoubtedly been in the pond a great many 

 years, for the gunners do not speak of its being a new growth, so 

 that does not explain their recent increase. When I first went 

 down there in the fall of 1905 I saw it growing then, though I was 

 not sure it was the true Valisncria amcricana until I saw Mr. 

 McAtee's letter several years later. Furthermore, Edgartown 

 Great Pond has, as far as the memory of the old gunners go, al- 

 ways been a great resort for ducks, especially Greater Scaups and 

 Redheads. These two, in this order, are the commonest ducks, 

 and to-day at the height of the season in November there are 

 six to eight thousand bedded in the centre of the pond. And 

 although the old gunners say there were many more in years past, 

 I am rather inclined to doubt their statements, for the beds of 

 ducks to-day far surpass those of any other place in this State, 

 if not in New England. Therefore it does not seem reasonable to 

 suppose that even when there was less shooting than there is at 

 present the ducks were any more numerous. 



