THE CANVAS-BACK DUCK. 



( Ay thy a vallisneria . ) 



Very few of the game birds are more 

 celebrated than the Canvas-back Duck. 

 Both sportsmen and epicures find that it 

 meets their highest ideal of game quali- 

 ties. It flies rapidly and with directness, 

 dives quickly, swims rapidly and withal 

 is remarkably wary and alert. Its flesh 

 is considered incomparably delicious by 

 many, especially if the bird has been 

 feeding on the ''water-celery," an abund- 

 ant fresh water plant, which is its favor- 

 ite food. In fact, the Canvas-back was 

 given its specific name because of its 

 known fondness for this water plant 

 which bears the Latin name Vallisneria 

 spiralis. 



The Canvas-back is peculiar to the 

 North American continent. Its nearest 

 foreign relative is the red-crested 

 pochard, a European and Asiatic species 

 which has been admitted to our list of 

 American birds solely upon the strength 

 of one specimen, an immature male, 

 found among other freshly killed game 

 for sale in a New York market. 



The semi-annual appearance of this 

 noted game bird in the temperate regions 

 is governed chiefly by the amount of 

 water and the abundance of "water- 

 celery" found in certain localities. This 

 duck is much commoner some seasons 

 than others and although it frequents 

 both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts dur- 

 ing the migrations, it confines itself 

 strictly to the interior while breeding. 



Northern Illinois and Indiana have 

 few attractions for this wild fowl, 

 although a number of the birds have 

 been taken at English Lake, Indiana, 

 Fox Lake, Illinois and also at Lake 

 Koshkonong, Wisconsin. A few males 

 were also observed by the writer at Chil- 

 licothe, on the Illinois river. Its favor- 

 ite food grows in all these waters. 



The Canvas-1)ack Duck is fairly com- 

 mon throughout the Devil's Lake region 



of l\orth Dakota, where it nests among 

 the grassy sloughs and pot-holes, or on 

 the borders of marshy lakesides, together 

 with its ally, the redhead duck. 



One of the first duck's nests I ever 

 found was that of a Canvas-back, while 

 searching for American bitterns' eggs, 

 in the latter part of May, 1900, near 

 Sweetwater Lakes, North Dakota. 



The nest, about equal in size to a 

 bushel basket, but with a much smaller 

 capacity, was securely anchored to sev- 

 eral large clumps of marsh grass, over 

 water several feet deep. It was a bulky 

 affair, consisting of dry grass and hay, 

 sparsely lined with down and feathers. 

 An incomplete set of four fresh eggs lay 

 in the nest and v^ere partly concealed by 

 the wary female which had attempted 

 to cover them with the loose lining of 

 her abode. There was a limitless area 

 of low prairie stretching out on all sides 

 from the nest, and knowing it would be 

 impossible for me to again find the spot, 

 I prepared to pack the four eggs in my 

 case with regret that I could not wait 

 for a larger clutch. 



Before leaving the locality the parent 

 bird was upon the scene and passed me 

 several times on swift wing, uttering her 

 nasal notes of distress. 



I proceeded on my arrival at camp 

 that eve to blow the contents of the four 

 water fowl's eggs into the frying pan. 

 This may not appeal to the readers of 

 this article as an appetizing morsel, but I 

 assure you that the scrambled eggs were 

 eaten with a relish equal to that experi- 

 enced by the epicurean who partakes of 

 a roasted Canvas-back, taken from the 

 famous wild celery beds of Chesapeake 

 Bay, Maryland. 



In Northwest Canada, the Canvas-back 

 nests abundantly during June, when it 

 deposits from seven to twelve deep ashy 

 green colored eggs, elliptical in shape. 



r.'lf) 



