S79 



AETHYIA VALLISNERIA (Baird). 



THE CANVASBACK DUCK. 



Specific Character. — Bill long and narrow the end much depressed, with 

 the nail scarcely decurved, the base high with the culnaen gradually sloping and 

 scarcely concave ; culmeu nearly as long as the middle toe (without claw) and 

 about three times the greatest width of the maxilla. Head and neck chestnut 

 rufous the former brownish dusky (sometimes quite blackish) anteriorly and on 

 top; jugulum and anterior part oi" back, lower part of rump, upper tail coverts, 

 and posterior part of crissum black ; back, scapulars, flanks, sides, and anal re- 

 gion white, finely and delicately vermiculated with dusky ; breast and abdomen 

 immaculate white. Wing coverts deep ash gray finely sprinkled with white, 

 secondaries ("speculum") lighter more bluish gray, the upper feathers edged 

 with black ; tertials like the longer scapulars ; primaries slate colour the inner 

 quills more cinerous, except at the ends where dusky, tail dusky ; bill entirely 

 greenish black ; iris carmine red ; feet bluish gray. 



Female. — Head, neck, jugulum, and anterior pirt of the back raw umber 

 brown ; a post ocular space and the foreneck whitish ; the chin, throat, and 

 cheeks tinged with fulvous ; wini^s as in the male, but coverts almost uniform 

 gray ; back, scapulars, sides, and flanks, with only the exposed ends of the 

 feathers vermiculated with white and dusky, the remainder being grayish 

 "brown. Bill greenish black ; iris brownish red the feet plumbeous. 



Total length about 20.00-22.00 inches ; extent 30.00 ; wing 9.00 ; culmen 

 2.30; tarsus 1.70; middle toe 2.60. 



Habitat — Nearly the whole of North America breeding from the North 

 Western States northward to Alaska; south in winter to Guatemala. 



This duck so famed for the qualities of its flesh, is exclusively found in 

 North America. It is very like the redhead in appearance and habits but is 

 superior for the table. It derives its name partly from the plant Valissneria or 

 wild celery, upon which it is very fond of feeding whenever it can be found, and 

 it is then that its flesh is so much prized ; at other times it is said not to be much 

 superior to that of the Redhead or Bluebill. In Ontario they are never now very 

 plentiful, being found late in the season in small numbers at the Rondeau, St, 

 Clair Flats, and Long Point, but like the Redhead are getting very scarce. The 

 Canvasback duck like the Redhead and Bluebill is hunted in a peculiar way 

 upon the Chesapeake by what is known as " toling." The hunter has a kind of 

 poodle dog trained for the purpose, and having selected a spot where the ducks 

 can swin very close to the shore the hunter having secreted himself, makes 

 his dog run up and down the shore in sight of the birds which gradually ap- 

 proach the shore, apparently out of curiosity, as they do so the dog is trained to 

 gradually recede into the grass and to hide himself, the ducks coming quite close 

 up to the shore when the hunter seizes his opportunity. Several thousands of 

 ducks have been known to crowd in towards the shore in a solid mass out of 

 sheer curiosity. On the Rondeau they are taken by cutting a large hole in the 

 ice and piling the blocks of ice about it and among which the hunter properly 

 clad is secreted. 



The Canvasback breeds in the far north principally and lays from 7 to 10 

 eggs of a grayish green colour. 



