December, 1919 
FOREST AND STREAI^I 
651 
Photo by Lloyd O’L'eal. 
Cauvas-back shooting on Currituck Sound 
those birds at that time of year, and 
had a small flock of red-head decoys out 
on the water within easy gun-range of 
our blind. The flight, however, was poor 
that day and by late afternoon we had 
bagged only a few red-heads that had 
decoyed singly or in pairs. 
An hour had passed without our using 
the guns when we noticed v/hat we 
thought to be a single red-head a long 
ways off and very high in the air but 
flying towards us. The duck came 
straight on and passed directly over our 
little Island at a height many times too 
great for a shot. We were perfectly con- 
cealed and remained absolutely motion- 
less. 
WTien almost out of sight the duck 
turned and came back and passed over 
us again, still far too high for a shot. 
Again he went but not so far this time, 
and again he came back, flying over us 
low enough for us to see that lie was a 
canvas-back but too high to be sure of a 
shot. For the fourth time the duck 
turned and this time circled our island 
out of range. We knew ho wanted very 
much to join those decoys, so we waited 
patiently. 
Finally, after circling us several times, 
the wary bird, evidently .seeing nothing 
suspicious in the brown rushes of the 
little island, came for the decoys as if 
about to alight among them. But when 
still just out of range he suddenly went 
straight up in the air and swung off with 
the wind. We thought he was gone for 
good this time, but to our surprise back 
he came and flew very slowly toward the 
decoys as if watching that island for all 
he was worth. Then suddenly he seemed 
to decide that all was safe for he dropped 
close to the water and with wings set in 
graceful curves, sailed in over the decoys. 
My friend bagged him. 
On the Pacific Coast the canvas-back is 
reported a foolish and easily captured 
bird. That may be true in the far west, 
but the canvas-back of eastern waters, 
where they are “educated to the gun,” is 
anything but a foolish bird. 
The canvas-backs are expert divers and 
can remain under the water for long pe- 
I riods at a time. A wounded canvas-back 
I upon striking the water wUl dive at one* 
and often come up far out of gun range. 
Canvas-baciis are sometimes taken by a 
method called tolling. A small dog is 
trained to run about on shore near the 
water after small sticks or stones tossed 
to him from the blind. The shooters are 
perfectly concealed. The canvas-backs 
have a great curiosity and a flock feeding 
on the water a distance from shore soon 
notice and are attracted by the perform- 
.ance of the dog. After watching him a 
short time the birds will often swim 
toward shcre to satisfy their curiosity, 
until finally within range of the guns. 
Some of the other ducks are sometimes 
shot along with the^ canvas-back from the 
same blind. The red-head particularly is 
often bagged with the canvas-back, since 
(he two birds are so much alike that the 
decoys of cue species will attract the 
other bird equally well. 
THE RED-HEAD. 
I X table qualities, si^e, beauty and hab- 
its the red-head is in no sense inferior 
fo its more famous relative, the can- 
vas-back. lYhcn the red-head is feeding 
on the wild celery, wild rice or wapato 
How^ever, the identification of the two 
species is an easy matter. The grayish 
back of the red-head is darker than that 
of the canvas-back and the black waved 
lines are wider and more like those of the 
scaup. The plumage of the head and neck 
is a brighter red, without any black. The 
bill is shorter than that of the canvas- 
back and is a dull blue with black band at 
end, whereas, the bill of the canvas-back 
is black. The females may be distin- 
guished by the difference in their hacks, 
the red-head being a grayish brown whei*a 
the other bird is a darket brown. 
However, the surest means of identifi- 
cation is the difference in the shape of 
the heads of the tw'o birds. The head of 
the canvas-back is decidely long and nar- 
row and slants gradually backward froni 
the bill. The head of the red-head rises 
abruptly from the bill, which gives the 
bird a round, full forehead and crown. 
The red-heads have a v/ide range, cov- 
ering the country in general. They were 
formerly extremely abundant about the 
Great Lakes and the red-head shooting in 
that region was probably as fine as any- 
where. Some excellent shooting is still 
to be had there. The red-heads are still 
plentiful on some of the sounds and bays 
(Continued on page G80) 
Photo by .C». E, Whitehiuti^ 
Chooting -wild-fowl from a batterj 
its flesh is delicious and second in value 
to no other duck, but when lacking these 
delicacies it often has a sedgy taste, and 
then may be said to resemble that of the 
scaups or broad-bills and others. 
The red-head is about the same size as 
the canvas-back, or perhaps an inch 
shorter. In color of plumage both birds 
are so much alike that the amateur 
hunter often mistakes one species for the 
other. Marketers not up in ornithology 
often have the red-head palmed off on 
them, at a fanej- price, for canvas-hack. 
But the victim of these unscrupulous 
dealers suffers only in pocket book, since 
the red-head which has fed on the best of 
duck food is, w-hen served up well roasted, 
as fine a fowl as one could desire. 
