126 NYROCA VALISINERIA 



might go farther and say that a genus ought to include a group of diverse creatures 

 that nevertheless have a certain community of relationship; it ought to express re- 

 lationship and likeness within a defined limit. If we make a separate genus for the 

 Canvas-back we must do likewise for a great number of other ducks, and the end re- 

 sult would be absurd. Our duck is so evidently a Pochard in color-plan, habits, 

 voice, display-attitude and the characteristics of its downy young that it seems 

 reasonable to leave it where it has always been. 



It is really rather difficult to confuse this with any other duck, particularly if one 

 can get a profile view of the head, which even at a great distance is exceedingly char- 

 acteristic. The French name Canard cheval is the most descriptive. On the wing it is 

 more of a problem. Many people confuse the Canvas-back with the Red-head for no 

 very good reason. I have even seen our Goosander passed as a Canvas-back by 

 country boys in New England, and people who ought to know better have bought 

 Red-breasted Mergansers, thinking they had a bargain in Canvas-backs. 



The general nature of the waters frequented by this duck is a good deal like that 

 where Red-heads are found, only the Canvas gets along in greater depths. It is more 

 of a digger of roots. Likewise it is a hardier bird all around, cares nothing about cold 

 as long as it can keep an open hole to feed in, and migrates later than its more deli- 

 cate cousin. It is even more strictly a fresh-water duck than the Red-head and does 

 not usually go to salt water unless really hard put to it to find food. There are a great 

 many places in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, which are excellent Red-head and 

 Scaup ground (half -salt to wholly salt water, depending on winds and tide), where 

 the Canvas-back never goes unless the food fails farther north. The same is true of 

 the salt waters of Chesapeake Bay. 



So much has been said about this bird that nothing short of a monograph could do 

 it justice. Every book that has been written about American water-birds or Ameri- 

 can duck-shooting devotes a great deal of space to the Canvas-back and it is often 

 referred to as the "King of Ducks." 



Wariness. When in large flocks the Canvas-back is exceedingly hard to ap- 

 proach. Most of the early writers describe them as wary, cautious and extremely 

 shy. When the young birds first arrive from the north at such points as the shore of 

 Lake Erie they decoy readily if the weather conditions are right, and seem just as 

 "foolish" as the Red -heads. But after they have been harassed for a month or two 

 in the battery or bush-blind infested regions of the Chesapeake or Currituck they 

 acquire a certain wisdom and may then be called "battery-shy." Toward the end 

 of the shooting season, that is, just before they leave in early March, they become 

 almost impossible to decoy. They gather in huge rafts and seem to be able to tell the 

 position of a battery, rising high enough from the water to detect the ruse and sheer- 

 ing off to one side or the other as they come up; or more often they pay no attention 



