THE CAHVAS-UACK DUCK. 323 



tlie Red-Head, though immeasurably inferior to the 

 Canvas-Back, where both can feed on the valisn&ria, is 

 as far superior to it when shot on sea-ways where both 

 are compelled to feed on other species of sea-grass and 

 weeds. Indeed, I consider the Duskey Duck, commonly 

 known as the Black-Duck, a better bird on the Northern 

 Atlantic sea-board than this fowl. 



The valisneria of which it is so fond, and to which it 

 owes so much of its excellence, grows only on fresh 

 shoals, in water from seven to nine feet, which are never 

 left bare at the lowest tides. It is a long grass-like 

 plant, with narrow leaves of five or six feet in length or 

 upward, and is said to grow so thickly that a boat can 

 scarcely be pulled through it ; the root is white, and 

 somewhat resembles celery, whence its common name, 

 and on this only do the ducks feed, the Canvas-Back and 

 Scaup-Duck, Fuligula Marila the Black-Head of the 

 Chesapeake, and Broad-Bill of Long Island for these 

 three are one being reported to dive for it, and uproot 

 it, while the less vigorous and active Red-Head and 

 Widgeon rob the rightful possessors of it when they rise 

 to the surface after their long dive. 



The Red-Head closely resembles the Canvas-Back, and 

 is often palmed off on the unwary as that bird, yet to an 

 experienced eye the distinction is broadly apparent. In 

 the first place the Canvas-Back is very considerably the 

 larger bird, measuring two feet in length by three feet 

 from wing to wing, and weighing, when in condition, 



