Outlines for Scout Workers: XXI

Outlines for Scout Workers

By Violet Iversen and D. W . Parratt

XXI. The Canvas-back Duck

Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?

Loved the wood-rose and left it on its stock?

— Emerson.

1. Why is the canvas-back duck so named? By what other three names

is it known?

2. What are the three general classes of ducks and to which does the

canvas-back belong?

3. Note size, color, and markings and contrast male and female in these

respects. When are these contrasts most apparent? Why then?

4. In what kind of place does this bird live? What is there about the

duck to indicate such a habitat? (Shape of body, wings, bill, feet, neck,

color, oil glands, etc.)

5. Upon what does the canvas-back subsist? How does it procure its

food?

6. For many years this duck was "the darling of epicures." What

made him such?

7. Where and of what does it build its nest? In what kind of place?

Why there? Does it nest in our state? If not, where?

8. When do the canvas-backs come to us and how long do they stay?

9. Describe flight, paying particular attention to speed and course.

10. Should the canvas-back be better protected? If so, in what ways?

Handy Material

In Huntlee bannkes es mery to bee,

Whare fowles synges bothe nyght and daye.

—From Child's Ballads, I, 107.

OUTLINES FOR SCOUT WORKERS 293

Attention has already been called to the fact that many

birds are named in imitation of the sounds they make. The

chickadee, for instance, is named from its musical "chick-a-dee-

dee" chatter, the phoebe from its plaintive "phoe-bee" call, and

the heron from its harsh "he-ron" squawk. In like manner our

most important family of water game birds have acquired its

name. The members of this family habitually make the familiar

"quack-quack-quack" or "duck- duck- duck" sound and in conse-

quence are called ducks.

This great group of water birds is often divided into three

general classes. One is called the river ducks, one the deep

water, and the other the fish ducks. The river ducks live almost

entirely inland upon or near shallow lakes or ponds and along

various sized streams of water. They are poor divers and con-

sequently secure much of the food obtained from water by

tipping the body in a vertical position and reaching down to

the bottom of the stream or pond. The mallard is a splendid

example of this class of ducks.

Fish ducks usually inhabit the sea coasts and live upon

animal life, especially small fish, found in the salt or brackish

waters. They are expert divers, but of no particular value for

table purposes.

Deep water ducks are found both inland and along the sea

coasts. During the greater part of the year they prefer the se-

cluded inland lakes and streams, but, during the colder seasons

often make for the open sea and live with the fish ducks. They

are skilful divers and secure much of their food at considerable

depths under water. Not many of these are suitable for table

use, but those that are have been the special marks for discrim-

inating sportsmen.

The particular bird with which we are now concerned is the

most famous of the deep water class. He measures from twenty

to twenty-two inches in length. The top and front of his goose-

shaped head are dark chestnut in color. The sides and back

are reddish brown and this color extends downward covering the

entire neck. Below this and around the upper end of the body

is a rather wide ring of glossy black. The under parts are

almost pure white, while the sides and back are white with fine,

wavy, dark-brown bars giving the appearance of canvas. On

account of this canvas-like coloring on his back he is commonly

called the white-back or, more often, the canvas-back duck. His

short, heavy neck has given him the additional name of bull-

neck, and in some localities he is confused with the sheldrake

and in consequence is wrongly called by that name.

The female canvas-back wears a less showy dress than does

the courting male. Her body is colored with grayish brown

marked with white wavy lines. Her head is of wood brown with

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touches of white behind the eyes and on the fore-neck. To her

is given the task of tending eggs and rearing young and in this

important work has but little use of showy colors. These would

serve her poorly as protection against lurking enemies when she

is nesting and hovering her young.

The male, however, is placed in keen competition with

others of his sex in winning the attentions of coveted females.

In this the fellow with most attractive suit stands the best chance

of winning out. During the mating season, therefore, the proud

male makes good use of his distinctive toilet, but as summer ad-

vances the occasion for "winning garbs" disappear and he grad-

ually assumes colors and markings much like those of the better

protected female.

Like that of other ducks, the body of the canvas-back is

boat-shaped suitable for floating upon or diving through water.

His stout legs are farther back on the body than are those of the

river ducks and his lead-colored feet are much longer. These

together with the lobe hanging from each hind toe readily sug-

gest his ability to dive and swim under water.

This ability to dive, in turn, suggests the source of much of

the canvas-back's food. His choicest morsel is a sort of tape or

ell grass often called wild celery found at considerable depths in

fresh or brackish waters. To this plant is attributed the de-

licious flavor of the canvas-back meat, making it famous through-

out America. But part of the time, the canvas-back feeds upon

mollusks and the like and then, of course, his meat tastes fishy

and is not so palatable.

At one season or another, canvas-backs are found in prac-

tically every part of North America. During spring and summer

they range from the northern states to Alaska, breeding mostly

throughout Canada and the upper tier of our western states.

The nest is well constructed of grass and weeds and lined with

feathers and down from the female's breast. It is hid in the

long reeds or grasses bordering some secluded lake or stream.

From seven to nine grayish-olive eggs are laid to the nest, covered

with soft feathers and down when the duck is not covering them.

Every autumn welcomes the return of the canvas-backs from

their summer homes to the valleys of our state. They remain

along our marshes and streams during the colder weather and

at first signs of spring take wing to their northern retreats.

In sheltered hollow lies the snow,

While chill and damp the raw winds blow,

When northward through a murky sky,

The white-backs fly.

But they are harbingers of spring,

As swiftly to the north they wing;

Soon come the blooms and clear blue sky

The white-backs fly.

OUTLINES FOR SCOUT WORKERS 295

The canvas-back's flight is strong, swift, and certain. He

can cover an enormous distance in a short time. It is not at all

unusual for him to cut the air at the rate of ninety miles per

hour. He almost never dodges from danger, but speeds ahead

until it is passed. At times these ducks assemble in flocks of

thousands, especially along the sea coast, and when suddenly

arising for flight make a noise with their powerful wings much

like that of thunder.

For years Chesapeake Bay was America's famous winter

rendezvous for these noted ducks. At one time they were so

numerous that in hiring out slaves men made special provision

against the black man being fed canvas-back meat more than

twice a week. But that time has gone and now people along

Chesapeake Bay and in other places are trying to produce "can-

vas-back" meat by feeding tame ducks on "wild celery."

"It is desirable and necessary," writes Dr. William T. Horn-

aday, "that every person living should know that systematic

slaughter will exterminate the most populous wild species on

earth, and accomplish that result in a very few years. Let it be

remembered for all time that no wild species of mammal or bird

can withstand systematic slaughter for commercial purposes.

***** Today this country of ours is the theater of a

remarkable struggle between the great forces of destruction and

the small forces of protection and preservation. In every town-

ship throughout the whole United States the destroyers of wild

life either are active in slaughter or are ready to become active

the moment they are left free to do so. * * * * The army

of destruction that annually takes the field (in the United States)

against wild life, openly and according to law, contains at least

2,642,194 men and boys. * * * * The state of Utah is, with

the exception of its irrigated lands, a desert state. Its stock of

game, excepting the migratory ducks of Great Salt Lake, is at a

very low point. The population of the state is only 373,351, but

in 1911 that state sent an army of 27,800 well-armed men into

the field against her pitiful remnant of game birds and quad-

rupeds. And this sort of thing the people of America call 'game

protection!' "

Evidently, if this continues our migratory ducks will soon be

"at a very low point" also. Surely all interested in the protec-

tion of our bird life should give this matter serious considera-

tion.

To a Waterfowl

Whither, 'midst falling dew,

While glow the heavens with the last steps of day.

Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue

Thy solitary way?

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Vainly the fowler's eye

Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,

As, darkly painted on the crimson sky,

Thy figure floats along.

Seek'st thou the plashy brink

Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,

Or where the rocky billows rise and sink

On the chafed ocean side?

There is a power whose care

Teaches thy way along that pathless coast, —

The desert and illimitable air, —

Lone wandering, but not lost.

All day thy wings have fanned,

At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere,

Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land,

Though the dark night is near.

And soon that toil shall end;

Soon shalt thou find a summer home and rest,

Ani scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend,

Soon, o'er thy sheltered nest.

Thou'rt gone, the abyss of heaven

Hath swallowed up thy form; yet, on my heart

Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given

And shall not soon depart.

He who from zone to zone

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,

In the long way that I must tread alone,

Will lead my steps aright.

— William Cullen Bryant.