DUCK SHOOTING. 219 



ANAS VALISIXERIA. 



THE CANVASS-BACK. 



Description. " The canvass-back duck is two 

 feet long and three in extent, and when in good 

 order, weighs three pounds ; the bill is large, 

 rising high in the head, three inches in length, 

 and one inch and three-eighths thick at the base, 

 of a glossy black; eye, very small; irides, dark 

 red ; cheeks and fore part of the head, blackish 

 brown ; rest of the head and greater part of the 

 neck, bright glossy reddish chestnut, ending in 

 a broad space of black that covers the upper 

 part of the breast, and spreads round to the 

 back ; back, scapulars and tertials, white, faintly 

 marked with an infinite number of transverse, 

 waving lines or points, as if done with a pencil; 

 whole lower parts of the breast, also the belly, 

 white, slightly pencilled in the same manner, 

 scarcely perceptible on the breast, pretty thick 

 towards the vent; wing-coverts, gray, with 

 numerous specks of blackish; primaries and 

 secondaries, pale slate, two or three of the latter 

 of which nearest the body are finely edged with 

 deep, velvety black, the former dusky at the 

 tips; tail, very short, pointed, consisting of 



