172 WILD-FOWL 



have often been sold in the markets as canvas-backs, 

 but the birds are easily distinguished. The bill of the 

 red-head is blue, not black. Its head is round, not 

 angular like that of the canvas-back. The back of 

 the red-head is much darker than that of the canvas- 

 back. 



A few years ago these birds came in immense num- 

 bers to the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and the other 

 bays and sounds of the Atlantic Coast, and the shooting 

 grounds brought high rentals. Excessive shooting, 

 however, by sportsmen and the market gunners, has 

 so reduced the number of the birds as to make the 

 shooting-grounds of the Chesapeake far less valuable, 

 and at many points there is to-day but little sport or 

 none at all. The ducks were nowhere more persecuted 

 than on the waters of this bay, all the points being held 

 by clubs. They were assailed from every side by land, 

 and the market gunners with huge guns fired broad- 

 sides into them as they slept upon the water. This 

 shooting was kept up from the moment of the birds' 

 arrival in the fall until the ice put an end to the slaugh- 

 ter ; and in the spring the shooting ended only when 

 the last bird unshot had flown away. The high prices 

 (often several dollars) which the birds commanded in 

 the markets stimulated the market gunners to great 

 activity, and the wonder is that a bird remains. So 

 abundant were the canvas-backs in former years that 

 slaves were fed with them, and contracts are said to be 

 in existence which contain provisions against such 

 feeding to slaves whose services were rented. 



These birds came until quite recently in great num- 

 bers to the bays and ponds about the great lakes. 



