Omaha daily bee., 1889-10-27
POINTS ON THE CANVAS-BACK
A Few of Which John Chamberlin
Knows Nothing About.
WOULDN'T WASTE SHOT ON EN-.
The Low Estimate i'm Which the Sue
culent Fowl Was held by an
Illinois Hunter-A Dis
pearine Race.
The Wary Canyas.Back.

1He wary
Tho Chicago Herald Of last Sunday con-
tanned lengthy disquisition on the canvas
back duck by John Chamberlin, which
would pass current as ar able article with
all those who know nothing about the nature,
habits and characteristics of this royal
game bird. To the old duck-hunter and
naturalist, however, the dissertation is sim
ply conglomeratIon of misstatements and
absurditles.
AS starter, It is asserted that the Ches-
apeake canvas back is really the only canvas
back, excepting from the standpoint Of the
naturalist; that the North Carolina, the
Illinois, Texas and California canvas-back,
III gastronomic merit, can no more be COM
pared to the bird that frequents the Ches-
apeake and its myriad of tributaries than
the mud-hcn can be likened to an acorn-fed
mallard. This is the first misstatement.
The writer has killed canvas-back on the
Chesapeake and at Carrltuck, too; also at
Koshkonong, Wis, and Liverpool, ILL.,, as
we'll as here, over the waters of the Missouri
and the Platte. and it is asserted, with en-
phasis. that the canvas. back of Koshkonong
and the lower Illinois, has no superior in the
world--in fact, the birds here are, on an av-
erage, bigger, fatter and more luscious and
succulent, if anything, than the bird who
makes his spring and fall habitat amidst the
estuares and friths of the Atlantic sea-
board.
And then, too, At would require the most
convincing evidence that could possibly be
furnished by means of culinary perfection to
induce the confession from the Nebraska
QUICKER that any bird in the world even
equals the tawny headed. ashen-breasted
beauty he brings TO bag every autumn along
the Loup and the Elkhorn, and in the
chnu Of
buncy.
The Chesapeake and its companion waters
are the oldest canvas-baclS grounds IN the
country. 1t was here the birds were first
found in their greatest numbers, and for years
it was actually believed that they could be
found nowhere else and at one time the east
ern authorities went so far as to asseverate
that the bird shipped in from Illinois was only
an ally of the canvas-back. The gastronomes
and gourmets of the Atlant,c coast were
extremely jealous, as well as their sporJs-
men; they did not want to be convinced that
this feathered moroccan, so long distinctly
their own, could tie knocked over by the hun
dreds along the lakes and streams or rude
and vulgar Illinois.
But such is, or was rather, incontroverti-
bly, the case. At one period the can back
was one of the most numerous visitors to
the waters of the Illinois. OF the countless
millions of wild fowl that made transitory
halts there in the spring and autumn on
their semi-annual mlgratlons, none were
more plentiful than this king OF them all.
OLD Captain Whitehead--and II Joe Long,
of Boston, who is the author Of the clever
est work on wild fowl and wild fowl Shoot
ing extant, was alive he could tell you who
the captain is-who to this day runs duck
ing cabin boat at Liverpool sixteen miles
above Havana, H., and who is one OF the
oldest market hunters, as well as one OF the
best shots, in the whole country, told the
writer, one March afternoon five years ago,
as we lay in blind on tine Little Yellow
river, that he had seen tho day when he
wouldn't waste powder and shot on
the canvas-back, and they would fly
over him, too, as thick as you
ever saw sprlgtals. That was when the
superb qualities of the bird, as we'll as his
value, was unknown in hatprimival coun.
and when there was no market in Chicago or
st. Louis for any duck but the mallard and
only the ''greenhead"- drake-at that.
The hen maiiard, with her spberer hues, was
classed in with the redhead, the widgeon'
baldpate, blueblll and whistler, and 1t was
only the drake malard, with his blazonry of
color, his dazzling emerald head and otner.
wise beautifully marked plumage that would
command any price at all. Edible qualities
were not considered then, in fact, net
| known, and 1T was the impressive looks of
the bird that regulated the market fuctua-
tons.
So at one time, say thirty years ago, it is
| quite probable that canvas back existed no
more plentiful anywhere on Gods green
| earth than on the picturesque Hi
! nois. To-day, upon the Chesapeake, as
! well as everywhere else, the birds appear
| only in limited numbers, and are decreasing
| with every season, and ere many years will
| pe the next thing 10 extinct-will have gone
| tho way of the wild pigeon and the buffalo.
or course there are days vet, though they
| be rare enough, when the fight is sufficiently
| strong 10 recall To ths old duckers the times
J that are forever gone.
| Again MIR. Chamberlain SAYS that the Ches
| apeake canvas back obtains its 'pe-
| culiarly delicious and indescribable taste
! from feeding on the plant called
Wild celery. This growth" he