CANVAS-BACK 135 



At Long Point, Lake Erie, only a short distance farther east, the figures show a 

 situation quite the reverse, for up to 1901 the Canvas-back was an extremely rare 

 duck there. From one to two specimens a year (23 in twelve years), the numbers 

 suddenly jumped to 161 in 1901 and 814 in 1905. In 1913 no less than 1373 were 

 taken, and this was the banner year. During the period from 1901 to 1920 the 

 Canvas-backs represented 3.7% of all ducks shot at the Club, but even now they are 

 very irregular in their numbers, only 99 having been taken in one season (1911). 

 They seem far less dependable than the Red-heads and actually more than twice as 

 many Red-heads as Canvas-backs are killed there. Such figures, however, do not al- 

 ways represent actual status, because these "Canvas" at Long Point are killed in 

 the deep part of the marsh and in some seasons they do not come into the marsh, 

 although there may be plenty of them on the neighboring bay. 



Mr. W. B. Mershon (in litt.) is very certain that the Canvas-back was extremely 

 rare on the Saginaw River, Michigan, in his father's time. He adds that among the 

 many ducks which his father shot he can recall only one Canvas-back. 



Canvas-backs take nearly the same direction as the Red-head in crossing from the 

 Great Lakes to the Atlantic coast, but for some reason or other they are far less com- 

 mon than the latter in New England. 



Mr. S. P. Fay in a long paper published in the Auk, in 1910, concluded that this 

 duck had been increasing rapidly in eastern Massachusetts during the previous 

 decade. There certainly was a brief period from about 1901 to 1905 when Canvas- 

 backs were unusually common, but I doubt whether this was anything but a tem- 

 porary fluctuation. They are birds with so irregular a dispersal that long periods 

 must be considered in trying to reach an estimate of their abundance in any given 

 locality. My own records for Wenham Lake show that in the twenty years consid- 

 ered, only 13 Canvas-backs were taken, that is 0.4% of all the ducks, a list which 

 represented 25 species. During the same period and at the same place 103 Red-heads 

 were shot and a good many others noted. The only place in Massachusetts where 

 the Canvas-back is even tolerably common is the south shore of Martha's Vineyard 

 Island, where Vallisneria, besides other attractive pond-weeds (Potamogeton nuttalli 

 and perfoliatus) grow in profusion. Here, as before mentioned, S. P. Fay considered 

 them on the increase between 1905 and 1910. 



A similar statement was made concerning Maine by Norton (1916). He cites 

 about 25 different records from Maine, up to that time. It is true that a few Canvas- 

 backs as well as Red-heads are shot in Merrymeeting Bay on the Kennebec River 

 during some years. A gunner of long experience tells me that he shot several of them 

 in 1921 and saw others in 1922. 



A few Canvas-backs touch at the Great South Bay region of Long Island, the 

 Barnegat Bay and other points on the New Jersey shore and in Delaware Bay. As 

 many as five thousand have been estimated in winter (December 23, 1922) below 

 Washington, D.C., on the Potomac River (Bird-lore, vol. 24, p. 26, 1922). 



