canvass-backs

Updated: May 27, 2025

All four were desirous not only of shooting, but of eating, a canvass-back; and arrangements were set about to effect the former. It was known to all that the canvass-backs are among the shyest of water-fowl, so much so that it is difficult to approach them unless under cover. While feeding, it is said, they keep sentinels on the look-out.

Mayne Reid - The Young Voyageurs: Boy Hunters in the North