Often redheads are substituted for canvasbacks upon the unknowing purchaser. On the same feeding grounds one is about as good as the other. The fraud consists in that while the price of the redhead is very reasonable, that of the canvasback is fabulous.
The canvasback comes nicely to decoys usually, particularly if live dusky ducks are used. But they become very cautious if they are much hunted, especially in the North, where they go generally in pairs or small companies. No statelier duck swims than the game and cautious canvasback at such times. Aristocratic head held high, he warily draws in toward the lures. Every sense is alert. He is ready for an instant spring at the slightest movement or sound. Canvasbacks are expert divers. If only wounded they are hard to retrieve. They will dive and swim long distances under the surface, coming up in the rushes and cattails at the edge of the water. There it is almost hopeless to try to recover them.
These ducks are swift flying and strong. Their average length is about twenty-two inches. The males look very white when on the wing. The females have much the appearance of redheads.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 34, SERIAL No. 34 COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mentor: Game Birds of America, Vol. 1, Num. 34, Serial No. 34, by Edward H. Forbush