278 



THE AMERICAN POULTERER'S COMPANION. 



"It is a circumstance calculated to excite 

 our surprise," says Wilson, in his "Ornithology," 

 "that the Canvas-back duck, one of the com- 

 monest species of our country a duck which 

 frequents the waters of the Chesapeake in flocks 

 of countless thousands should yet have been 

 either overlooked by the naturalists of Europe, or 

 confounded with the Pochard, a species whose 

 characters are so obviously different. But this is 

 the fact, I feel well assured, since I have care- 

 fully examined every author of repute to which 

 I have access, and have not been enabled to 

 find any description which will correspond to 

 the subject before us." The species, then, we 

 hope, will stand as Wilson's own ; and it is no 

 small addition to the fame of American orni- 

 thology, that it contains the first scientific ac- 

 count of the finest duck that any country can 

 boast of. 



The Canvas-back duck is 2 feet long, and 3 

 feet in extent, and when in good order, weighs 

 3 pounds. The bill is very large, rising high in 

 the head, 3 inches in length, and If inch 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, dark-cinnamon, or a 

 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 of the breast; also the belly 

 white, slightly penciled in the same manner, 

 scarcely perceptible on the breast, pretty thick 

 toward the vent; wing-coverts gray, with nu- 

 merous specks of black; primaries and sec- 

 ondaries 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 four- 

 teen feathers of a hoary-brown ; vent and tail- 

 coverts black ; lining of the wing white ; legs and 

 feet very pale ash, the latter three inches in 

 width a circumstance which partly accounts 

 for its powers of swimming. 



The female is somewhat less ,than the male, 

 and weighs 2f pounds ; the crown is blackish- 

 brown ; cheeks and throat of a pale drab ; neck 



dull brown ; breast, as far as the black extends 

 on the male, dull brown, skirted in places witli 

 pale drab; back dusty white, crossed with fii>c 

 waving lines ; belly of the same dull white, pen- 

 ciled like the back; wings, feet, and bill as hi 

 the male ; tail-coverts dusky ; vent white, waved 

 with brown. 



The Canvas-back duck arrives in the United 

 States from the north about the middle of Oc- 

 tober; a few descend to the Hudson and Dela- 

 ware, but the great body of these birds resort 

 to the numerous rivers belonging to and in thr 

 neighborhood of the Chesapeake Bay, particu- 

 larly the Susquehanna, the Petapsco, Potomac, 

 and James rivers, which appear to be their gen- 

 eral rendezvous. Beyond this, to the south, 

 I can find no certain accounts of them. On 

 the Delaware they are called Red-heads, on the 

 Susquehanna Canvas - backs, on the Potomac 

 White-backs, and on James River Sheldrakes. 



They are seldom found as far north as the 

 Hudson, or at a great distance up any of these 

 rivers, or even in the salt-water bay ; but in that 

 particular part of tide-water where a certain 

 grass-like plant (Vallissineria) grows, on the 

 roots of which they feed. Where this plant is 

 found there will the ducks be ; and they will 

 frequently venture within reach of their ene- 

 my's gun rather than abstain from the gratifica- 

 tion of their appetite for this delicious food. 



The Canvas-back duck will feed readily on 

 grain, especially wheat, and may be decoyed to 

 particular places by baiting them with that 

 grain for several successive days. Some few 

 years since a vessel, loaded with wheat, wj?s 

 wrecked near the entrance of Great Egg Har- 

 bor in the autumn, and went to pieces. The 

 wheat floated out in vast quantities, and the 

 whole surface of the bay was in a few days cov- 

 ered with ducks of a kind altogether unknown 

 to the people of that quarter. The gunners 

 called them Sea ducks. They were all Canvas- 

 backs, at that time on their way from the north, 

 when this floating feast attracted their atten- 

 tion, and for a while arrested them in their 

 course. 



We have been informed that attempts have 

 been made to domesticate the Canvas-back 

 duck, but we have not learned with what sue- 



