158 WATER FOWL. 



needs a good dog to find it. When all other means fail 

 it will dive to the bottom, seize some grass in its bill, 

 and hold on until life is extinct; commit suicide by 

 drowning, in fact, rather than fall into the hands of its 

 pursuer. 



Sometimes this duck is known as Gray-Back, and in 

 Louisiana as Dos Gris, the French equivalent for the 

 same name, and also Canard Violon. The Red Head 

 bears confinement well, but does not breed readily when 

 domesticated. The note of this species is a hoarse gut- 

 tural rolling sound, as if the letter R was uttered in the 

 throat with a vibration of the tongue at the same time. 

 It is easily imitated, and the bird readily responds to the 

 call of its supposed relative. Some other ducks, like the 

 Canvas Back, different species of Scaup Ducks, Sprig- 

 tail, etc., have a similar call. The flesh of the Red Head, 

 when it has been feeding upon wild celery and such 

 dainty food, for tenderness and flavor is excelled by 

 no other Duck, and many are passed off for Canvas 

 Back. I have tried both, shot the same day on the 

 Chesapeake, and the birds had doubtless fed on the wild 

 celery, and in point of excellence there was no difference 

 between them. Occasionally I have found the Red 

 Head the better bird of the two, but this was exceptional. 

 Of course, if the heads are served with the body, there 

 is never any difficulty in distinguishing them, provided 

 the heads really belong to the bodies served, but in all 

 cases the Canvas Back is considerably the larger Duck. 

 A knowledge of comparative anatomy is very useful in 

 a case where a decision as to the identity of these Ducks 

 is required, as the result may mean a difference of quite 

 a sum of money to the host, for probably more so-called 

 Canvas Backs and even Red Heads are eaten during one 

 winter in our country than ever flew within its limits at 



