202 



WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 



pair, one of each, side by side, and a child will see the 

 distinction. The bill of the canvas-back being fully three 

 inches in length, high at the base, running wedge- 

 shaped to the tip, and in color black ; on the other 

 hand, the bill of the red-head is about two and one- 

 fourth inches long, slightly concave, and in color dark 

 blue or slate. If the reader will only bear this in mind 

 he will never get mixed or undecided when he knocks 

 one down and thinks he has a canvas-back, when in 

 fact it is a red-head. 



These birds are dainty but voracious feeders. They 

 only want what they like, and when they find it, hate aw- 

 fully to leave it, and will stand lots of shooting. What 

 appears to tickle their palates most are the roots and 

 blades of tender grass, wild celery, smart-weed, although 

 they have no hesitancy in skimming floating seeds from 

 the surface of some quiet pond ; or, during an over- 

 flow, nipping the buds from the twigs amidst which 

 they swim. 



In the fall they are comparatively scarce, the spring 

 being the season of their greatest abundance. The 

 water being high on the Mississippi, excellent shooting 

 may be had then. On the smaller inland rivers they 

 are still more plenty, but only when the streams are 

 swollen and set back, forming bayous and overflowing 

 the adjacent bottom land. At such times, I have found 

 them in great numbers and had splendid shooting, both 

 flight and over decoys, in the deep woods of the Wap- 

 sipinicon river. This is a winding, tortuous stream, 

 extending through the state of Iowa from a north- 

 westerly direction, and emptying into the Mississippi 

 twenty miles south of Clinton. a treacherous stream, 

 dull and lifeless, when the water is low ; but when 



