650 
FOREST :a:nd STRE'AM 
December, IQl’O 
A MANUAL OF WILD-FOWL SHOOTING 
PART FOUR OP A SERIES OP ARTICLES DESCRIBING THE TRAITS, CHARACTER- 
ISTICS AND METHODS OP HUNTING OUR WATER-FOWL — THE SEA DUCKS 
Bt FREDERICK A. WILLITS. 
F amous is the canvas-back. Sports- 
men are wont to regard him as the 
king of ducks. Epicures never tire 
of singing his praise. He is a splendid 
bird, both in the air and on the table, but, 
never-the-less he is inclined to be over- 
rated. It is admitted he is a fine bird 
but not always the finest. 
The canvas-backs feed chiefly on aquatic 
plants and their favorite food is the 
z'aUisncria. This plant is popularly 
termed wild celery, although it is no cel- 
ery at all, but an eel grass growing en- 
tirely beneath the water and found in 
some of the bays and sounds along the 
Atlantic Coast and in some sections of 
the interior. On the Pacific Coast the 
canvas-backs feed when possible upon a 
water plant called wapato (sapellaria 
‘variaiilis) . 
When feeding on this wild celery and 
wapato the canvas-backs are worthy of 
high praise, for then their flesh is tender, 
delicately flavored and truly delicious. 
But the flesh of the red-heads feeding on 
the same plants is equally delicious. And 
the canvas-back shot on waters where no 
celery or wapato grow is no better than 
many of the other ducks there. 
Epicures claim that the canvas-backs 
of the Chesapeake are the best. The wild 
celery was once very abundant on that 
bay and the canvas-backs fed exclusively 
upon it so, naturally, they were excellent. 
But, as a matter of fact, the canvas-backs 
shot in the vast celery beds of Wisconsin, 
for example, are equally good, as are also 
the red-heads and widgeons on that 
ground. 
Not one person in a thousand can tell 
a canvas-back from any other duck on 
the table (ducks whose diets are largely 
fish excepted) when the other duck in 
question was eating the same food as the 
canvas-back. After all it is the food upon 
Male Canvas-back (Aristonetta Talisneria) 
which a duck feeds, rather than its 
species, that is responsible for its flavor. 
The canvas-back is one of our largest 
ducks, length about twenty inches, and he 
is also very handsome. In the male bird 
the head is dark chestnut red and black 
on top. The back and sides are white 
with narrow waved black lines which 
give the back the light gray appearance 
that suggested the bird’s name. The 
upper part of the back, chest, upper and 
lower tail coverts, tail and rump are 
black. The under parts are white, the 
legs and feet gray, the bill black and 
sloping gradually from the outline of the 
head. In the female bird the head, neck, 
chest and upper part of back are dark 
brownis’h-red. The rest of the back and 
sides are brown. Bill, legs and feet the 
same color as the male bird. 
The canvas-backs have an immense 
range and although classified as a sea- 
duck, are found throughout North Amer- 
ica from the Atlantic to the Pacific. They 
were formerly extremely abundant in the 
Dakotas, about the Great Lakes and in 
other sections of the interior, as well as 
on the Gulf Coast, Chesapeake Bay, Cur- 
rituck Sound, and other waters along the 
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. 
A few years ago these birds came each 
season in immense numbers to Chesa- 
peake Bay, The abundance of the wild 
celery was the attraction. But excessive 
shooting by sportsmen and market hun- 
ers and the partial disappearance of the 
wild celery have greatly reduced the num- 
ber of the birds. The shooting-grounds on 
the Chesapeake formerly brought ex- 
tremely high rentals, nearly all the points 
being held by clubs, but today many of 
the points are far less valuable since there 
is little or no shooting to be had. When 
one considers the high prices which the 
canvas-backs commanded in the markets 
and, therefore, the activity to which the 
market gunners were stimulated, it is a 
wonder that a single bird remains today. 
I The canvas-backs are nowhere as abund- 
ant as they were in former years, but 
there are a few localities where good 
sport may still be had with these splendid 
birds. It is reported that the birds are 
still very plentiful in certain places on the 
Pacific Coast. 
Many states now have wise game laws 
protecting the ducks. With the stopping 
of all spring shooting, the shooting from 
batteries on the feeding grounds, the use 
of the big guns, and with the limiting of 
the bag, the canvas-back will no doubt 
remain in suflScient numbers to exclude 
the probability of the extermination of 
the species. 
The canvas-backs are fond of deep 
water and whether on the salt bays along 
the coasts or in the inland lakes they 
will be found diving to a considerable 
depth for their food, while the river- 
ducks are dabbling in the shallow water. 
Canvas-backs are generally very wild 
and shy and before coming in to the de- 
coys often circle the point several times 
while watching for hidden dangers. They 
are more successfully hunted with a flock 
of decoys painted to represent their kind 
than with decoys of different varieties. 
I regard the canvas-backs as among the 
wildest and most wary of ducks, but pos- 
sibly because I have shot them only 
where they were the least plentiful. 
I recall an experience on the bay some 
years ago. A friend and I were shoot- 
ing from a little marshy island a 
few square yards in area, a short distance 
from the main shore. We were after 
«ed-heads, this being a good place for 
Red-head — Male and female {Aethyia Americana'^ 
