FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 267 



burst open along the breast. But deprived of this food the canvasback turns for 

 sustenance to that which to great extent nourishes the ducks of the '' common 

 herd," — various other water plants, seeds, mollusks, small fishes and still more insig- 

 nificant marine animals ; becoming then, like many another upstart, scarcely so 

 worthy of regard as many of its relatives which in its day of prosperity were wont 

 to be looked down upon. 



Of hardly more than ordinary appearance, the canvasback is, in its native haunts, 

 very much like other ducks. Like most of the larger species its flight is rather 

 heavy, though strong and well-sustained ; and though moving somewhat awkwardly 

 on land, its ability to swim and dive is hardly inferior to that of the regular sea 

 ducks. In winter quarters these birds frequent the mouths of the streams and estu- 

 aries, their numbers and distribution largely influenced by the food supply. Where 

 the wild celery is abundant these ducks, often in company with other species, swim 

 about the shoals and feed upon the roots, while, it is claimed by some, they leave 

 the rest of the plant for the other ducks to eat. While thus engaged, or when rid- 

 ing asleep on the water, they scarcely ever seem to be without vigilant sentinels 

 posted to give warning in case of danger, at whose first alarm the flock is up and 

 away. In more interior localities they alight to feed in prairie ponds and places of 

 similar kind, ranging in small companies which seldom unite until the season of 

 migration ; but along the larger bays, such as the Chesapeake, there is commonly a 

 regular morning and evening movement to and from their feeding-grounds, at which 

 latter place they disperse themselves, only to return at the close of day to the 

 general nightly gathering-ground. During these flights they travel as in migration, 

 in small wide-extending parties of more or less regular geometrical outline, and as 

 they pass projecting points of land offer frequently a fair mark to the sportsman. 



The loud roar that is borne on the wind from myriads upon myriads of these 

 ducks as they rise affrighted from the water is indeed an inspiring sound to the 

 naturalist ; but to the anxiously toilful hunter, whose chance for game disappears 

 with the rush of pinions, there comes hardly a kindred feeling. For the canvasback 

 is exceedingly shy and wary, and all the stratagem of the duck hunter must be called 

 into requisition if success is to follow. Should the bird be wounded near shore 

 it seeks the high grass for concealment ; and if injured in open water dives so 

 deeply and so far that pursuit is well-nigh hopeless. But when the cold of winter 

 has frozen the water of the feeding-grounds, and the available food supply is thus 

 reduced to a minimum, it sometimes happens that large numbers may be killed at a 

 hole in the ice to which they have crowded to satisfy their hunger. When persist- 

 ently hunted these ducks will desert a particular locality, even though it be a favor- 



