18GS. ] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
361 
Fig. 1.—INLET ON CHESAPEAKE BAY. 
Duck Shooting. 
In October the various species of ducks arrive 
from the North, and congregate in the hays 
along the coast, where they find their favorite 
feeding grounds. Chesapeake Bay and its trib¬ 
utaries have long been famous for the immense 
flocks of wild fowl which resort to them at this 
ite food of the Canvas-backs is the Tape-grass 
or Eel-grass, Vallisneria spiralis. This, which, 
by the way, is not a grass at all, has flat, tape¬ 
like leaves, two feet or more in length, and 
grows in slow streams, completely submerged. 
It is said that the Canvas-backs eat only the 
roots of this plant, while other ducks feed upon 
the leaves. The superiority of this species of 
Fig. 3.—SHOOTING EltOM; A BLIND Olt SCKEEN. 
seems to be conceded that the excellence of 
the Canvas-back is due to the Yallisneria, and 
this relationship is recognized in the specific 
scientific name, the bird being called Anas Val¬ 
lisneria. Duck shooting calls for the display 
of strategy, and those who follow it for sport or 
for profit resort to various ingenious expedients 
to get near the game. One of our artists sends 
season, and have become especially noted as the 
resort of the Canvas-back, generally esteem¬ 
ed the most decli ous of all ducks. In our 
markets, when the Canvas-backs bring four 
dollars a pair, other kinds are sold for a dollar 
or less. The ducks when they arrive from the 
North are very poor, but they rapidly fatten 
duck is attributable to this particular food, which 
is in the Chesapeake called “Wild Celery,” 
though it has no resemblance to celery, nor is it 
botauically related to it. A gentleman from Al¬ 
bemarle Sound informed us that Canvas-backs 
were abundant in those waters, but as they were 
without their proper food, “ Wild Celery,” they 
were less esteemed than some other species. It 
us sketches he has taken in Chesapeake Bay, 
which illustrate some of the methods of hunt¬ 
ing. Certain favored spots over which the birds 
pass as they fly from one feeding place to an¬ 
other are often rented at a high rate as shooting 
grounds. A point of this kind is shown in fig¬ 
ure 1. Blinds or screens are built to hide tho 
sportsmen who lie in wait for the birds. A nearer 
Fig. 5,—SHOOTING FROM FLOAT, 
•NIGHT SHOOTING. 
