410 UPLAND SHOOTING. 



respondence to me, also the verdict, which was a dis- 

 agreement, and the trial is to be made again. 



As the Valisneria spiralis is the same wherever 

 found, and imparts to and thoroughly impregnates the 

 bird with its celery taste, there ought not to be, and can 

 not be, any difference in the birds when they have par- 

 taken of these bulbous roots to the exclusion of other 

 food. When, through overflows, droughts, or other 

 causes, the canvas-backs are deprived of this Valisneria 

 spiralis they feed on other food, snails and fish. This 

 gives them a dry, leathery taste, that makes them almost 

 unfit for food. 



But there is another duck, the companion of the can- 

 vas-back, that vies with it as a table luxury. That bird 

 is the red-head, so similar to the canvas-back that thou- 

 sands have been sold and eaten for canvas-backs, and 

 where one is acquainted with them, their habits, feeding, 

 and resorts, it is not to be wondered at. The difference 

 between them is not great, and one is often mistaken for 

 the other. The canvas-back is larger, plumper, with 

 darker coloring on the head and neck; but the dis- 

 tinguishing difference is the bill. As in the canvas-back, 

 the bill begins high up on the head, is jet-black, and runs 

 in a straight line to its tip, being quite narrow. In the red- 

 head, the bill is of a bluish slate, broader than in the 

 canvas-back, and slightly concave. Gastronomically 

 speaking, let both be shot after weeks of feasting in 

 beds of wild celery, and the man who can discover a 

 finer flavor in the canvas-back has a much more acute' 

 sense of taste than I. 



Where these birds breed, while definitely known, is a 

 source of astdnishment; for, while they are with us in the 

 fall, remaining in southern climes throughout the winter, 

 when the wintry months have passed, they fly in tireless 

 flight, traversing thousands of miles of settlements and 



