114 
CANVASS-BACK DUCK. 
white, crossed with fine waving lines ; belly of the same dull white, 
penciled like the back ; wings, feet, and bill, as in the male ; tail- 
coverts dusky, vent white, waved with brown. 
The windpipe of the male has a large flattish concave laby- 
rinth, the ridge of which is covered with a thin transparent mem- 
brane ; where the trachea enters this it is very narrow, but imme- 
diately above swells to three times that diameter. The intestines 
are wide and measure five feet in length. 
It is a circumstance calculated to excite our surprise, that the 
Canvass-back, one of the commonest species of our country, a Duck 
which frequents the waters of the Chesapeake in flocks of countless 
thousands, should yet have been either overlooked by the natural- 
ists of Europe, or confounded with the Pochard, a species whose 
characters are so obviously different. But that this is the fact the 
Editor feels well assured, since he has carefully examined every 
author of repute, to which he has had access, and has not been 
enabled to find any description which will correspond to the sub- 
ject before us. The species, then, we hope, will stand as Wdson’s 
own ; and it is no small addition to the fame of the American Or- 
nithology that it contains the first scientific account of the finest 
Duck that any country can boast of. 
The Canvass-back frequents the Delaware in considerable 
numbers. 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 giatification of theii 
appetite for this delicious food. The shooters in the neighborhood 
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 Can- 
vass-hack was cunningly fostered by our neighbors of the Chesa- 
peake, who boldly asserted that only their waters were favored 
