AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
41 
they breed. When seen at a distance they appear as a re- 
giment of soldiers, being arranged alongside of one another, 
on the borders of the rivers, searching for food, which 
chiefly consists of small fish, or the eggs of them, and of 
water insects, which they search after by plunging in the 
bill and part of the head; from time to time trampling with 
their feet to muddy the water, that their prey may be 
raised from the bottom. In feeding are said to twist the 
neck in such a manner that the upper part of the bill is 
applied to the ground; during this, one of them is said to 
stand sentinel, and the moment he sounds the alarm, the 
whole flock take wing. This bird when at rest stands on 
one leg, the other being drawn up close to the body, with 
the head placed under the wing on that side of the body 
it stands on. 
“The flesh of these birds is esteemed pretty good meat; 
and the young thought by some equal to that of a partridge; 
but the greatest dainty is the tongue, which was esteemed 
by the ancients an exquisite morsel. Are sometimes caught 
young and brought up tame; but are ever impatient of cold, 
and in this state will seldom live a great while, gradually 
losing their colour, flesh, and appetite; and dying for want 
of that food which in a state of nature, at large, they were 
abundantly supplied with.” 
For the Cabinet of Natural History. 
A NOTICE OF THE DUCKS, AND SHOOTING OF 
THE CHESAPEAKE BAY. 
Mr. Editor: — As it is of great importance to the cause 
of science, that a correct natural history of our country 
should be established and preserved, every erroneous 
assertion that remains uncontradicted by those on this side 
of the Atlantic, will inevitably be credited in Europe; 
and let our minds, manners, or institutions, be misrepre- 
sented as they may, we must maintain truth, if possible, 
in the history of our natural productions. 
A writer over the signature of S. H. in the Turf Regis- 
ter, for August, 1833, in an interesting account of the 
habits of the Ducks that are found in the Chesapeake Bay, 
and of the different modes of destroying them, makes two 
or three statements that require notice, as they may mis- 
lead naturalists at a distance, and produce wrong impres- 
sions at home. 
He says, there are two varieties of Canvass-back Duck; 
“ one has a shorter neck than the other, and its hreast, 
(unlike the other’s,) is of a dark red colour.” Having 
L 
been a visitor to those waters for many years on Duck- 
shooting expeditions, I have closely observed the variety 
of water fowl that frequent them during the fall and win- 
ter. I have on several occasions been accompanied by 
naturalists of great industry and intelligence, and neither 
them nor myself have ever been able to discover more 
than the single species of Canvass-back, (Anas valisi- 
neria.) 
The writer must certainly have mistaken birds of dif- 
ferent ages for different varieties, the yearling being ge- 
nerally of a lighter colour in the marking than the more 
advanced bird. The old Red-heads resemble, in tint, the 
Canvass-back, and it is only by the shape and colour of the 
bill, that a partial observer can distinguish them. The 
male Canvass-back is also much darker than the female, and 
may have occasioned the error. Mr. Titian R. Peale, 
Mr. George Ord, and Mr. C. L. Bonaparte, all ornitholo- 
gists of great eminence, and accustomed to visiting the 
Chesapeake, particularly Mr. Peale, support Wilson in 
the belief of the existence of but one variety. 
The same writer also states, that the “ Canvass-backs breed 
in great abundance with other Ducks on the sea marshes 
and small islands that are not habitable, along the shores 
of the Gulf of Mexico. Large patches of ground are taken 
up with their nests, which are about four feet apart.” — 
In this assertion he is undoubtedly mistaken. The Black 
Duck, (Anas obscura,) and the Summer Duck, (A. sponsa ,) 
are the only Ducks that breed to any extent in the United 
States. It occasionally happens that crippled Ducks of 
other species consort together, and remain through the 
warm season, but this is so alien to their usual habits, that 
it cannot be regarded as natural to them. 
What have been mistaken for the nests and eggs of the 
Canvass-backs, have no doubt been those of other birds, 
perhaps a species of Gull, some of which tribe deposit 
eggs not very unlike the Duck’s and quite as edible. 
He also asserts, that “■ Ducks of different species never 
associate — never roost together, nor fly in the same flock, 
when they are scared up together from the feeding ground.” 
If I was not convinced by his general correctness, that the 
author has witnessed the habits of these birds himself, to 
a certain extent, I should suppose he had taken the obser- 
vations of very superficial observers for his guide. I have, 
certainly, hundreds of times, seen Canvass-backs, Red- 
heads, Black-heads, and Bald-pates, roosting, feeding, and 
flying together; the latter, on many occasions, when they 
had not been alarmed from their feeding ground, but mak- 
ing their morning and evening flight, and when it must 
have been a matter of choice. I have myself, times be- 
yond number (and also witnessed the same in others) 
killed at one discharge two species out of the same flying 
