134 
CANVASS-BACK DUCK. 
numbers. The Valisineria grows pretty abundantly, in vari- 
ous 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 with- 
in reach of their enemies’ weapons rather than abstain from 
the gratification of their appetite for this delicious food. The 
shooters in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia for many years 
were in the habit of supplying our markets with this species, 
which always bore the name of red-heads or red-necks ; and 
their ignorance of its being the true canvass-back was cun- 
ningly fostered by our neighbours of the Chesapeake, who 
boldly asserted that only their waters were favoured with this 
species, and that all other ducks, which seemed to claim affi- 
nity, were a spurious race, unworthy of consanguinity. Hence, 
at the same time, when a pair of legitimate canvass-backs, 
proudly exhibited from the mail-coach, from Havre -de- Grace, 
readily sold for two dollars and fifty cents, a pair of the iden- 
tical species, as fat, as heavy, as delicious, but which had been 
unfortunately killed in the Delaware, brought only one dol- 
lar ; and the lucky shooter thought himself sufficiently reward- 
ed in obtaining twenty-five per cent, more for his red-necks 
than he could obtain for a pair of the finest mallards that our 
waters could afford. But the delusion is now passed \ every 
shooter and huckster knows the distinctive characters of the 
canvass-back and the red-head ; and prejudice no longer con- 
troverts the opinion that this species is a common inhabitant 
of the Delaware ; and epicures are compelled to confess that 
they can discern no difference between our canvass-back, when 
in season, and that from Spesutie, or Carrol’s Island, the no- 
torious shooting ground of the hon-vivants of Baltimore. 
“ The last-mentioned place, though commonly termed an 
island, is properly a peninsula, situated on the western side of 
the Chesapeake Bay, a few miles from Baltimore. It is a spot 
highly favourable for the shooting of water fowl. It extends 
for a considerable distance into the bay ; and, being connected 
to the main land by a narrow neck, the shooters are enabled 
