“Notwithstanding the apparent facilities that are offered of success, the amusement of duck-shooting is probably one of the most exposing to cold and wet, and those who undertake its enjoyment without a courage “screwed to the sticking-point”, will soon discover that “to one good a thousand ills oppose.” It is indeed no parlour sport, for after creeping through mud and mire, often for hundreds of yards, to be at last disappointed, and stand exposed on points to the “pelting rain or more than freezing cold,” for hours, without even the promise of a shot, would try the patience of even FRANKLIN’s “glorious nibbler.” It is, however, replete with excitement and charm, and to one who can enter on the pleasure, with a system formed for polar cold, and a spirit to endure “the weary toil of many a stormy day,” it will yield a harvest of health and delight, that the “roamer of the woods” can rarely enjoy.” Although this far-famed bird was named by its discoverer after the plant _Valisneria Americana_, on which it partially feeds when on fresh-water, its subsistence is by no means dependent upon that species, which indeed is not extensively distributed, but is chiefly derived from the grass-wrack or Eel-grass, _Zostera marina_, which is very abundant on the shallows and flats along the whole sea-coast. Its flesh seems to me not generally much superior to that of the Pochard or Red-head, which often mingles in the same flocks; and both species are very frequently promiscuously sold in the markets as Canvass-backs. In the Plate are represented two Males and a Female. In the back ground is a view of Baltimore, which I have had great pleasure in introducing, on account of the hospitality which I have there experienced, and the generosity of its inhabitants, who, on the occasion of a quantity of my plates having been destroyed by the mob during an outburst of political feeling, indemnified me for the loss. FULIGULA VALISNERIA, _Bonap._ Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 392. ANAS VALISNERIA, _Wils._ Amer. Ornith., vol. viii. p. 103. pl. 70. fig. 5. FULIGULA VALISNERIA, _Richards. and Swains._ Fauna Bor. Amer. iv. Part II. p. 450. CANVASS-BACKED DUCK, _Nuttall_, Manual, vol. ii. p. 430. Adult Male. Plate CCCI. Fig. 1, 2.