newed. We were very glad of this, as we
were getting tired of the dry salt bacon, and another "pot-pie" from
Lanty's _cuisine_ was quite welcome. The subject of the pigeons was
exhausted, and we talked no more about them. Ducks were upon the table
in a double sense, for during the march we had fallen in with a brood of
the beautiful little summer ducks (_Anas sponsa_), and had succeeded in
shooting several of them. These little creatures, however, did not
occupy our attention, but the far more celebrated species known as the
"canvas-back" (_Anas vallisneria_).

Of the two dozen species of American wild-ducks, none has a wider
celebrity than that known as the canvas-back; even the eider-duck is
less thought of, as the Americans care little for beds of down. But the
juicy, fine-flavoured flesh of the canvas-back is esteemed by all
classes of people; and epicures prize it above that of all other winged
creatures, with the exception, perhaps, of the reed-bird or
rice-hunting, and the prairie-hen. These last enjoy a celebrity almost
if not altogether equal. The prairie-hen, however, is the _bon morceau_
of western epicures; while the canvas-back is only to be found in the
great cities of the Atlantic. The reed-bird--in the West Indies called
"ortolan"--is also found in the same markets with the canvas-back. The
flesh of all three of these birds--although the birds themselves are of
widely-different families--is really of the most delicious kind; it
would be hard to say which of them is the greatest favourite.

The canvas-back is not a large duck, rarely exceeding three pounds in
weight. Its colour is very similar to the pochard of Europe: its head
is a uniform deep chestnut, its breast black; while the back and upper
parts of the wings present a surface of bluish-grey, so lined and
mottled as to resemble--though very slightly--the texture of canvas:
hence the trivial name of the bird.

Like most of the water-birds of America, the canvas-back is migratory.
It proceeds in spring to the cold countries of the Hudson's Bay
territory, and returns southward in October, appearing in immense flocks
along the Atlantic shores. It does not spread over the fresh-water
lakes of the United States, but confines itself to three or four
well-known haunts, the principal of which is the great Chesapeake Bay.
This preference for the Chesapeake Bay is easily accounted for, as here
its favourite food is found in the greatest abundance