412 UPLAND SHOOTING. 



that the fowls which come from those States are no more 

 akin to the Chesapeake canvas-back than the rice-bird 

 of the South is equal to its own self when, under another 

 name and different food conditions, it furnishes an 

 incomparable morsel as the buttery reed-bird of the 

 Delaware marshes. As to the canvas-backs which are 

 occasionally found along the shores of Long Island, their 

 flesh is not distinguishable from the ordinary duck's, 

 because, in the absence of the wild celery, they demean 

 themselves by feeding upon fish." 



I hope the reader will not deem me guilty of agreeing 

 with such broad assertions, for I do not, but simply 

 quote from him, that you may see how prejudice will 

 affect a man; but when we read further, that "decoys 

 are not used because the canvas-back, unlike his more 

 plebeian brothers, will not fly to them, ' ' we feel our hearts 

 tempered with charity, for our experience has been that, 

 tempted by good decoys, properly placed and set out by 

 an expert, one of the easiest ducks to decoy is the can- 

 vas-back. When a man says a duck will not decoy, 

 he simply asserts that it will not alight among its kind. 

 I have shot thousands of ducks, and have yet to find 

 the species that will not decoy at the right time and 

 place. 



Some months ago, when in the office of Robert Law, 

 one of the most prominent citizens of Chicago, he said to 

 me: " I see, Mr. Leffingwell, you have written a book on 

 wild fowl shooting. I wish I had known you intended 

 doing so, for I would liked to have told you what I know 

 about canvas-back ducks." Imagine my surprise, for 

 here was a man talking duck-shooting to me, who I sup- 

 posed never fired a gun. "Why, Mr. Law," said I, 

 " do you mean to say you have had experience with can- 

 vas-back ducks?" He invited me to be seated, and this 

 is the story he told me: 



