CANVAS-BACK DUCK. 



26.5 



surface of the bay was in a few days covered with ducks, 

 of a kind altogether unknown to the people of the 

 neighbourhood. The gunners collected from all quar- 

 ters around ; and were so successful, that 240 were shot 

 in one day, and sold to the country people at twelve cents 

 and a half each, without the feathers. The birds 

 continued about the bay, however, for three weeks; 

 during the greater part of which time the same destruc- 

 tion was going on. The gunners called them Sea-ducks, 

 not knowing they were in reality canvas-backs, at that 

 time on their way from the North, when this floating 

 feast attracted their attention, and for a time arrested 

 them. When the gunners of Egg Harbour discovered 

 their mistake, in selHng for twenty-five cents, what 

 would have brought them four times that sum beyond 

 their immediate neighbourhood, we can readily fancy 

 their surprise and vexation. 



The canvas-backs are excellent swimmers and divers ; 

 the latter quality being absolutely necessary for fishing, 

 or rather pulling up by the roots, their favourite food. 

 Sometimes they assemble in such multitudes as to cover 

 several acres of the river ; and when they suddenly rise, 

 produce a noise resembling thunder. They are, how- 

 ever, extremely shy, and can rarely be approached ex- 

 cept by stealth. When wounded in the wing, they dive 

 to such prodigious distances, and with such rapidity and 

 perseverance, as almost always to render the pursuit 

 hopeless. 



From the great demand for these birds, and the high 

 price they uniformly bring in the market, various me- 

 thods are practised to procure them. The most success- 

 ful way is thought to be by decoying them to the shore 

 by means of a dog, while the sportsman lies concealed. 

 The dog, if properly trained, runs backwards and for- 

 wards along the margin of the water : the ducks, ob- 

 serving his manoeuvres, and enticed perhaps by curiosity, 

 gradually approach the shore, until they are sometimes 

 within twenty or thirty yards of the spot where the 

 sportsman lies in ambush ; whence he opens upon them 



