CANVASS-BACK. 253 



vass-Backs not only grace, but dignify the table, and tlieir verj'- 

 name conveys to the imagination of the eager Epicure the most 

 comfortable and exhilarating ideas." 



The beautiful appearance, large size, immense numbers, and 

 juicy tenderness of these Ducks, during their stay on the 

 Chesapeake and its tributaries, cause them to be persecuted 

 with an unrelenting ardor by Shooters collected from all parts 

 of the neighboring States, urged on, not only by a healthful 

 desire for sport, but doubly stimulated by the more selfish 

 motive of gain. Although thousands of these Ducks are an- 

 nually sent to the markets of Philadelphia, Baltimore, New 

 York, and even as far south as Charleston, the demand for 

 them at these places is ever the same; and the exorbitant 

 prices that they readily bring — two or three dollars per pair — 

 is of itself a sufficient proof of the high estimation in which 

 our citizens hold them. 



KNOWN ONLY IN AMERICA. 



This Duck we are proud to claim as solely American, there 

 being no fowl as yet described in any portion of the world, 

 except, perhaps, the Pochard of England, that at all resembles 

 the Canvass-Back. This Duck, however, is much smaller, and 

 weighs at least one-third less; and the delicacy of its flesh, 

 though good, is far inferior to that of our species. 



Before going further, we will make the reader familiar with 

 this beautiful Duck by the introduction of Wilson's descrip- 

 tion : — 



" The Canvass-Back is two feet long and three feet in extent, 

 and, when in good order, weighs three pounds; the bill is large, 

 rising high in the head, three inches in length, and one inch 

 and three-eighths thick at the base, of a glossy black ; eye very 

 small; irides dark red; cheeks and foreparts of the head 

 blackish-brown; rest of the headland greater part of the neck 

 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, tertials white, faintly marked with 

 an infinite number of transverse waving lines or points, as if 



