144 
THE CANVASS-BACK DUCK. 
forty feet, immediately over a shoal of grass, and took their 
stand on the shore in a hut of brush, each having three 
guns well loaded with large shot. The Ducks, which were 
flying up and down the river, in great extremity, soon 
crowded to this place, so that the whole open space was not 
only covered with them, but vast numbers stood on the ice 
around it. They had three rounds, firing both at once, and 
picked up eighty-eight Canvass-Backs, and might have col- 
lected more, had they been able to get to the extremity of 
the ice after the wounded ones. 
In the severe winter of 1779-80, the grass, on the roots 
of which these birds feed, was almost wholly destroyed in 
James river. In the month of January, the wind continued 
to blow from W. N. W. for twenty-one days, which caused 
such low tides in the river, that the grass froze to the ice 
everywhere; and, a thaw coming on suddenly, the whole 
was raised by the roots, and carried off by the freshet. The 
next winter, a few of these Ducks were seen, but they soon 
went away again ; and, for many years after, they continued 
to be scarce; and, even to the present day, in the opinion 
of my informant, have never been so plenty as before. 
The Canvass-Back, in the rich juicy tenderness of its 
flesh, and its delicacy of flavour, stands unrivalled by the 
whole of its tribe in this or perhaps in any other quarter 
of the world. Those killed in the waters of the Chesapeake 
are generally esteemed superior to all others doubtless from 
the great abundance of their favourite food which these 
