
34 CANVAS-BACK DUCK. 
“The canvas-back frequents the Delaware in considerable 
numbers. The Valisinerta grows pretty abundantly in various 
places from Burlington, New Jersey, to Hagle Point, a few 
miles below Philadelphia. Wherever this plant is found, 
there will the ducks be; and they will frequently venture © 
within reach of their enemies’ weapons rather than abstain 
from the gratification of their appetite for this delicious. food. 
The shooters in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia for many 
years were in the habit of supplying our markets with this 
species, which always bore the name of red-heads or red-necks ; 
and their ignorance of its being the true canvas-back was 
cunningly fostered by our neighbours of the Chesapeake, who 
boldly asserted that only their waters were favoured with this 
species, and that all other ducks which seemed to claim affinity 
were a spurious race, unworthy of consanguinity. Hence, 
at the same time, when a pair of legitimate canvas-backs, 
proudly exhibited from the mail-coach from Havre-de-Grace, 
readily sold for two dollars and fifty cents, a pair of the iden- 
tical species, as fat, as heavy, as delicious, but which had been 
unfortunately killed in the Delaware, brought only one dollar ; 
and the lucky shooter thought himself sufficiently rewarded 
in obtaining twenty-five per cent. more for his 7ed-necks than 
he could obtain for a pair of the finest mallards that our 
waters could afford. But the delusion is now past; every 
shooter and huckster knows the distinctive characters of the 
canvas-back and the red-head, and prejudice no longer con- 
troverts the opinion that this species is a common inhabitant 
of the Delaware ; and epicures are compelled to confess that 
they can discern no difference between our canvas-back, 
when in season, and that from Spesutie or Carrol’s Island, 
the notorious shooting ground of the bon vivants of Baltimore. 
“The Jast-mentioned place, thongh commonly termed an 
island, is properly a peninsula, situated on the western side of 
the Chesapeake Bay, a few miles from Baltimore. It is a 
spot highly favourable for the shooting of waterfowl. It 
extends for a considerable distance into the bay ; and being 

