BIRDS. 



the Potowmack where their food abounded, as to co- 

 ver acres of its surface, and to be seen in flocks for a 

 mile or more in extent. They might then be bought 

 from three pence to six pence a piece. At present 

 they are become so scarce, that few are killed, and 

 a single one costs seventy-five cents or a dollar* 

 Whenever ice covers the fresh water of the Susque« 

 hannah and the Potowmack, and forces the canvass 

 backs to leave their feeding places, and go down to 

 the salt water of the Chesapeake and live as other 

 ducks do, they very soon become lean, and their flesh 

 loses all the excellence of relish for which it is so 

 highly prized. 



The increase of navigation on the rivers disturbs 

 them considerably; but in addition to that, they are 

 so incessantly alarmed and destroyed by the gunners^ 

 that their numbers are diminishing very rapidly.* 



This delicious bird is not peculiar to the United 

 States; an ingenious Italian naturalistf assures us 

 that it is the anas ferna of Linn, and milvouin of Buf- 

 fon, and very common in Italy and France, where 

 he has seen it, but it is not so highly esteemed as in 

 this country. The same gentleman says, that the 

 plant upon which it feeds in the Chesapeake is the 

 valisnerza Americana^ or channel weed, a different 

 species from the v. spiralis of Europe. The roots 

 shoot in the autumn, fleshy, and stand the vv^inter. 



Wild goose* Attempts have frequently been 

 made on Long Island, to render the wild goose^ 



• Med. Rep OS. Hexade 1, vol, 1« 

 f Mr. Rafinesc^ue, 



I I 



