CANVASS-BACK DUCK. 605 
difficult to decoy, any glaring object, such as.a red handkerchief, is 
fixed round the dog’s middle, or to his tail; and this rarely fails to 
attract them. Sometimes, by moonlight, the sportsman directs his 
skiff towards a flock whose position he had previously ascertained, 
‘keeping within the projecting shadow of some wood, bank, or head- 
land, and paddles along so silently and imperceptibly as often to ap-. 
proach within fifteen or twenty. yards of a flock of many thousands, 
among whom he generally makes great slaughter. 
Many other stratagems are practised, and, indeed, every plan that 
the ingenuity of the experienced sportsman can suggest, to approach 
within gunshot of these birds; but, of all the modes pursued, none in- 
timidate them so much as shooting them by night; and they soon 
abandon the place where they have been thus repeatedly shot at. 
During the day, they are dispersed about; but towards evening, collect 
in large flocks, and come into the. mouths of creeks, where they often 
ride as at anchor, with their head under their wing, asleep, there being 
always sentinels awake, ready to raise an alarm on the’ least appear- 
ance of danger.. Even when feeding and diving in small parties, the 
whole never go down at one time, but some are still left above on the 
look-out. 
When the winter sets in severely, and the river is frozen, the Can- 
vass-Backs retreat to its confluence with the bay, occasionally fre- 
quenting air-holes in the ice, which are sometimes made for the pur- 
pose, immediately above their. favorite grass, to entice them within 
gunshot of the hut or bush which is usually fixed at a proper distance, 
and where the gunner lies concealed, ready to take advantage of their 
distress. A Mr. Hill, who lives near James River, at-a place called 
Herring Creek, informs me, that, one severe winter, he and another 
person broke a hole in the ice, about twenty by forty feet, immediately 
over a shoal of grass, and took their stand on the shore in a hut of 
brush, each having three guns well -loaded with large shot. The 
Ducks, which were flying up and down. the river, in great extremity, 
soon crowded to this place, so that the’ whole open space was not only 
covered with them, but vast numbers stood on the ice around it. They 
had three rounds, firing both at once, and picked up eighty-eight Can- 
vass-Backs, and might have collected more, had they been able to get 
to the extremity of the ice after the wounded ones. In the severe 
winter of 1779-80, the grass, on the roots of which these birds feed, 
was almost wholly destroyed in James River. Inthe month of Janu- 
ary, the wind continued to blow from W.N. W. for twenty-one days, 
which caused such low tides in the river, that the grass froze to the 
ice every where; and, a thaw coming on suddenly, the whole was 
raised by the roots, and carried off by the fresh. The next winter, a 
few of these Ducks were seen, but they soon went away again; and, 
for many years after, they continued to be scarce; and, even to the 
present day, in the opinion of my informant, have never been so plenty 
as before. 
The Canvass-Back, in the rich, juicy tenderness of its flesh, and its 
delicacy of flavor, stands unrivalled by the whole of its tribe in this or 
perhaps any other quarter of the world. Those killed in the waters 
of the Chesapeake are generally esteemed superior to all others, 
doubtless from i great abundance of their favorite foad which these 
ee Bl 
