Evening journal., 1903-04-28
CANVASBACKS
DISAPPEARING
Hundred Years From Now a
Pair Will Be Great Cur
iosity

IL is probable that the legsons of wild
fowl will continue to Withstand the legions
of guns for many years to come. The ter
ritory in which they make their homes Is
vast. many parts OF IL are inaccessible and
they are fecund
There Is one beautiful and luscious flyer
however, which seems doomed to 90 out of
existence long before the mallard and the
teal That is the canvasback. The de-
crease in number OF these birds within ten
years is notable, and each succeeding
season sees fewer Of them. Thus says a
writer in the New York Sun.
This is apparent not cnly in Chesapeake
bay. but also all along the Atlantic Coast
from Maryland down. They are fewer in
Barnegat bay than they have ever been.
They Will be fewer next year.
Shotgun men An all Of the thousands OF
little bays and inlets Of the South Atlantic
noted last winter that the focks OF can
vasbacks were smaller and more snfre-
quent. All Of these places grow wild cell
cry many Of them are remote, and the
birds would come to them in hordes II
there were any hordes left.
Fifteen years ago Ut was no trick ait all
on canvasback water for a good, patient
shot, shooting from a tank-bllnd. TO kill
from 20 to 50 pairs in a day. on White
Duck lake, Texas, so-caaled because Of the
swarms Of canvasbacks on il, market
hunters used ITO kill them On droves.
That is all passed. The man who shoots
for a living on White Duck lake these
days has a hard living. That is true of
the entire Texas coast from Brownsville
to the Sabine river; it is true of the Louis
Jana coast, of THE Mississippi and Ala
bama coast, Of the Georgia coast.
The canvasbaclls are not there as they
have been. They are not anywhere in the
world as they have been.
Shot at, starved out, driven out, kept
harried, their nests broken up, their sum-
mer feeding grounds ruined, they are a
vanishing race, a noble race, but sentenced
to certain extinction. a hundred years
from now pair of them will be- as much
Of curiosity in a park pond as is now the
golden pheasant in its cage.
Three causes have contributed to the de-
struotion of the caivasback: gunners,
nesters and carp.
The birds are so highly priced by cpl
cures, command such Lucullan prices in
market, that men who shoot for bread
have pursued them relenuessly. Facing
the proposition that two canvasbacks art
worth commercially a dozen fat mallards
the men with the smoothbores have de
voted themselves to extirpating the tribe
If man puts in long cold day in q
blind and gets six Of them he has earned q
big wage-something like Sc or Stand h,
would have Ito do a lot of killing Of othei
varieties to make so much money.
The nesters have searched for and fount
their nests in hundreds, because THE egg
command a high price. Many fancieri
want them ito cross with the domest,
duck; others want them to use as decoys
The carp have thinned them by destroy
ing their food. The man who brought th'
first German carp to this country is in
class with the man who brought the gyps.
moth and the man who brought the Eng
l.sh sparrow.
Whenever a German carp is put into
lake which grows wild celery. that lake "a
a little while bids farewell to the canvas
backs which nested on 1T, or visited it il
Jan and spring, because the carp will mul
ltiply enormously and eat all of the celer.
roots down to the very tip of tho mali
radicle. 1T is fish which uses its hoggis
snout Ito root in the mud. 1t stirs up tn
mud and poisons all other fish, excep
buIlheads, and TT eats the celery.
A familiar instance OF this is furnishe
by a large lake in Southern Wisconsin. j
was filled with celery. The canvasback
on their fall flight visited 1t in thousands
A club Of rich men bought the lake an
land and had an exclusive canvasbac
shooting organization.
Some wise one among them put in car
for reasons known only to himself. TIL
, celery is gone. the canvasbacks are gon'
the club is going.
Another thing working against the sun
, vival Of this fowl is its Unborn foolashnes,
II is large and beautiful and well favore,
but It has no sense. 1t will decoy to an,
! thing that looks like a duck 1t is alwa,
hungry and imagines that any restan
flock is gorging ITS tidbit.
When plentiful no one is troubled to Xxi
( 1t but the time is coming when the ma
. who returns to town OF camp with a bra,
Of canvasbacks will be regarded much as
man who returns with a brace of blas
swans.
nh : hr.s~