346 
CANVAS-BACK DUCK. 
Note . — It is a circumstance calculated to excite our surprise, 
that the Canvas-back, one of the commonest species of our coun- 
try, a Duck which frequents the waters of the Chesapeake in 
flocks of countless thousands, should yet have been either over- 
looked by the naturalists of Europe, or confounded with the 
Pochard, a species whose characters are so obviously difierent. 
But that this is the fact 1 feel well assured, since I have care- 
fully examined every author of repute, to which I have had ac- 
cess, and have not been enabled to find any description which 
will correspond to the subject before us. The species, then, 
we hope, will stand as Wilson’s own; and it is no small addi- 
tion to the fame of the American Ornithology that it contains 
the first scientific account of the finest Duck that any country 
can boast of. 
The Canvas-back frequents the Delaware in considerable num- 
bers. The Vallisneria grows pretty abundantly, in various 
places, from Burlington, New Jersey, to Eagle 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 shoot- 
ers in the neghbourhood of Philadelphia for many years were in 
the habit of supplying our markets with this species, which al- 
ways bore the name of Red-heads or Red-necks; and their ig- 
norance of its being the true Canvas-back was cunningly fos- 
tered by our neighbours of the Chesapeake, who boldly assert- 
ed 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 exhibit- 
ed from the mail-coach, from Havre-de-Grace, readily sold for 
two dollars and fifty cents, a pair of the identical species, as fat, 
as heavy, as delicious, but which had been unfortunately killed 
in the Delaware, brought only one dollar; and the lucky shoot- 
er thought himself sufficiently rewarded in obtaining twenty- 
five per cent, more for his Red-necks than he could obtain for 
