334: MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 



In the Chesapeake Bay shooting, in which I include, of 

 course, all the rivers which debouch into that fine sheet of 

 water, all more or less frequented in winter by innumer- 

 able legions of wild fowl, the birds most commonly met 

 with and most eagerly pursued, are the wild swan, Cycnus 

 Americanus a species peculiar to the American Conti- 

 nent ; the canvas-back duck, fuligula valisneria, so named 

 from the wild celery, which is its favorite food, whence it 

 derives its delicious flavor ; the red-head, fuligula ferina, 

 next in excellence to the canvas-back, and little inferior to 

 it when killed in the region of wild rice and wild celery ; 

 the American widgeon or bald-pate, anas Americana, and 

 the scaup, broad-bill, blue-bill, or black-head, as it is 

 variously denominated in various localities, the latter 

 being its Chesapeake alias, anas Marila; these being 

 considered the choicest, and those which improve most by 

 the food of that region. 



These birds, with the ordinary wild goose, anas Cana- 

 densis, do not generally appear in these waters until the 

 middle of November, when the cold has already been 

 severe at the north, and ice is beginning to make even in 

 those warmer regions. 



The smaller ducks, such as the buffel-headed duck, 

 anas albida, the ruddy duck, anas rubida, and the long- 

 tailed duck or south-southerly, anas glacialis, make their 

 appearance somewhat earlier in the season ; but they are 

 little regarded, and seldom pursued by sportsmen. 



Of the larger ducks, all of which feed on the same 

 grasses, and acquire so nearly the same flavor that they are 

 not easily distinguishable even by epicures, the canvas- 



