The Van Buren press., 1903-05-23
DOOM OF THE CANVASBACK.
This snseie, ofDucL Is Rapidly Bein.
EAtermiuated by Various Means
of Destruction.


IT is probable that the legions Of
wild fowl will continue to withstand
the legions Of guns for many years to
come. The territory in which they
make their homes is vast, many parts
of it are inaccessible, and they are
fecund.
There is one beautiful and luscious
flyer, however, which seems doomed TO
go out of existence long before the
mallard and the teal That is the
canyasback. The decrease in numbers
of these birds within ten years is not
able, and each succeeding season sees
fewer of them, says the New YORK
Sun.
This is apparent, not only in Chesa-
peake bay, but also all along the A.
lantic coast from Maryland down.
They are fewer in Barnegat bay than
they have ever been. They will be few
er next year.
Shotgun men in all of the thousands
of little bays and inlets of the South
Atlantic noted last winter that the
focks of canyasbackS were smaller
and more infrequent. All Of these
places grow wild celery, many Of them
are remote, and the birds would come
to them in hordes if there were any
hoTdes left.
Fifteen years ago it was no trick at
all on canvasbac water for good, pa
tient shot, shooting from a tank-blind,
to kill from 20 to 50 pairs day. On
White Duck lake, Texas, So called be-
cause Of the swarmS of canvas backs
on it, market hunters used to kill them
in droyes,
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 Louisiana coast, Of the Mis-
sissippi and Alabama coast, of the
Georgia coast.
The canvasbacks are not there as
they have been, They are not any
where in the world as they have been,
Shot at, starved out, driven out, kept
harried, their nests broken up, their
simmer feeding grounds ruined, they
are a vanishing race, a noble race, out
sentenced to certain extinction. \
hundred years trom now pair Of them
will be as much Of a curiosity in park
pond aa is now the golden pheasant in
It's cage
Three causes have contributed to the
destruction Of the canyasbGck: gum
ners, ncsters and carp
The birds, so highly priced by epi,
cures, command such Lucu.lan prices
in market, that men who shoot for
bread have pursued them reIentlessly
Facing the proposition that two can
vasbacks are worth commercially a
dozen fat millardS, the men with the
smoothbores have devoted 'hcmselye,
to eXtirpating the tribe II a man
puts in a long, cold day In blind and
gets six Of them he has earned a big
wage-something like six or seven dol.
lars-and he would have to do lot Of
killing Of other varieties to make SO
much money.
The nesters have searched for and
found their nests in hundreds because
the eggs command high price. Many
fanciers want them TO eros, with the
domestic duck; others want them 10
use as deCoys.
The carp have thnned them by de.
stroyin their food, The man who
brought the first German carp 70 this
country is in a class with the man who
brought the gypsy moth and the mar
who brought the English sparrow.
Whenever German carpi, put into q
lake which grows wild celery that lake
in a little while bid, farewell 10 tie
canvasbA,ks which ne,ted Oh il. or Wis.
tied it in fail and spring, because tie
carp will multiply enormously and eat
all Of the celery roots down 20 the
very tip of the main rldiclc. II is q
fish which uses It's hoggish snout tl
root in the mud II strs up the mud
and poisons all other fish, except bull.
heads, and it eats celery
A familiar instance Of this is fur.
nishcd by large lake ju southern Wis.
consn, It was filled with celery The
conyasbacks on their fal, flight visited
it in thousands \ club Of rich men
bought the lake and land aud had an
exclusive canya,back shooting organ.
i2ation
Some wise one among them pu' in
carp for reasons known only 20 him.
self. The celery {, gone; the canvas.
backs are gone, the club 3, going.
Another thing working against the
survival of tni. fowl !. II, Unborn fool.
ishncss, II !, large and beautiful and
well Favored, but II ha. no sense. II
will decoy TO anything that look, like
duck II is always hungry and
imogncs that any resting flock d.
gorRing ~ lldblt
When plentiful no ono is troubled 10
kin It, but the time 4. coming when
the man who returns 10 town or camp
with u brace ~ canyasback, viii be re-.
gardcd much as man who returns
with brace Of black swans
Necessary Arrangements
"Eycrything Is ready for the ccre,