WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 247 



cessaiy for a stranger to visit these regions, if he wishes to form 

 a just idea of the wonderful multitudes and numberless varie- 

 ties of Ducks that darken these waters and hover in intermina- 

 ble flocks over these favored feeding-grounds. It is not, how- 

 ever, the variety or extraordinary numbers of Ducks on the 

 Chesapeake that particularly attracts the steps of so many 

 Shooters to these parts, as there are other rivers and streams 

 equally accessible where Wild Fowl also abound. But the 

 great magnet that makes these shores the centre of attraction 

 is the presence of the far-famed Canvass-Back, that here alone 

 acquires its peculiar delicacy of flavor, while feeding upon the 

 shoals and flats of these waters. It is in quest of these noble 

 Ducks that so many repair annually to the shores of the Chesa- 

 peake and its numerous tributaries, regardless of the myriads 

 of other Ducks that are seen around on every side. The 

 Shooter alone taxes all his energies for the destruction of this 

 one species, regarding all others with contempt, and as hardly 

 worthy of powder and shot. The month of October has hardly 

 set in before the immense host of Ducks commence arriving 

 from the North in the waters of the Chesapeake. Among the 

 first of these welcome visitors will be seen the Anas Albeola, 

 commonly known as the Butter Ball, and. whose sharp and 

 quick note — quack, quack, quach! — is soon heard throughout 

 the neighboring streams and marshes, as they ever and anon 

 spring up and dart off with amazing velocity. Now may be 

 seen the Anas Boschas, known as the Wild Drake, or Mallard; 

 the Anas Glacialis, South-southerly, or Long-tailed Duck, with 

 its singular and discordant notes, and a few others. As the 

 season progresses, the cold blasts of the North bring down in 

 regular succession the sprightly little Anas Mavilla, Black- 

 Head, or Blue-Bill ; the cunning Anas Americaoa, American 

 Widgeon, or Ball-Pate; the poaching Anas Ferina, or Eed- 

 Head ; the wary Anas Canadensis, or Canada Goose ; the grace- 

 ful Cygnus Americanus, or American Swan; and last, but not 

 least, the Anas Valisineria, or Canvass-Back. Now it is that 

 the Walters of the Chesapeake are filled to repletion Avith the 

 armies of Ducks that collect on the flats and shoals where the 

 juicy blades of the Valisineria flourishes in the greatest profu- 

 sion. Now it is that the shores are thickly strewed with the 



