CLASS II. AVES: ORDER 8. NATATORES. 



325 



to take advantage of tlioir distress. A Mr. Hill, who lives near James River, at a place called 

 Herring Creek, informs me that, one severe winter, he and another person broke a hole in the ice, 

 about twenty by forty feet, iimnediately over a shoal of grass, and took their stand on the shore 

 in a lint of brush, each having three guns well loaded with large shot. The ducks, which 

 were flying np and down the river in great extremity, soon crowded to this place, so that the 

 whole open space was not only covered with them, but vast numbers stood on the ice around it. 

 They had three rounds, firing both at once, and picked up eighty-eight Canvas-Backs, and 

 might liave collected more, had they been able to get to the extremity of the ice after the 

 wounded ones. 



"The Canvas-Back, in the rich, juicy tenderness of its flesh, and its delicacy of flavor, stands 

 nnrivaled by the whole of its tribe, in this or perhaps any other quarter of the world. Those 

 killed in the waters of the Chesapeake are generally esteemed superior to all others, doubtless 

 from the great abundance of their favorite food which these produce. At our public dinners, 

 hotels, and particular entertainments, the Canvas-Backs are universal favorites. They not 

 only grace but dignif)'- the table, and their very name conveys to the imagination of the eager 

 epicure the most comfortable and exhilarating ideas. Hence, on such occasions, it has not been 

 uncommon to pav from one to three dollars a pair for these ducks ; and, indeed, at such times, 

 if they can, they must be had, whatever may be the price. 



" The Canvas-Back will feed readily on grain, especially wheat, and may be decoyed to par- 

 ticular places by baiting them with that grain for several successive days. Some few years since 

 a vessel loaded with wheat was wrecked near the entrance of Great Egg Harbor, 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 covered with ducks .of a kind altogether unknown to the people of that quarter. 

 The gunners of the neighborhood collected in boats, in every direction, shooting them ; and so suc- 

 cessful were they, that, as Mr. Beasley informs ixie, two hundred and forty were killed in one day." 



The Tufted Duck, F. cris- 

 tafa, is 17 inches long; widely 

 distributed in Europe and Asia. 

 The Long-tailed Duck or 

 Old-wife, F. r/lacialis, length 

 seventeen inches, not including 

 the long tail-feathers ; is com- 

 inon in Europe and North Amer- 

 ica. In the Southern States it 

 is called South Southerhj, on ac- 

 count of its cry. 



The Golden-Eye, F. clangula, 

 Buccphala Amvricana of Baird 

 — called Raitle-Wimjs by the 

 boat-shooters in England — is 

 nineteen inches long; builds in 

 hollow trees near the water, 

 twelve to twenty feet from the 

 ground. Soon after the young are hatched, the female carries them one by one under her bill, 

 pressed to her neck, to the water. This species belongs to both Europe and America. 



Barrow's Golden-Eye, Biicej^hala Islandka, is found in Iceland and on the St. Law- 

 rence. 



The Harlequin Duck, F. hisfrionica, is a very beautiful but small species, fourteen inches 

 long; fond of the eddying waters of cascades; common in North America; rare in Europe. 



The Pied Duck, F. Lahmdora, eighteen inches long, is common on the northeast coast of 

 North America. It is the Camptolmmts Labradorius of Gray ; called Skunk-Head and Sand- 

 Shoal Duck on the coast of New Jersey. 



The Buffle-Head, F. albeola, is thirteen inches long ; builds in hollows of trees; comm 



THE LOXG-TAILED DUCK. 



ion 



in tl 



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