#canvasbacks

Virginia Wildlife; vol. 32, no. 1. January, 1971. Cover illustration by Carl Knuth.

Canvasback Aythya valisineria

1/8/2023 Los Angeles County, California

A Diving Duck Feathursday

Last week we brought you geese from our green rooftop. This week we bring you ducks from Rex Brasher’s massive, limited-edition, 12-volume set Birds and Trees of North America, self-published in Kent, Connecticut, between 1929 and 1932, containing thousands of hand-colored reproductions of Brasher’s paintings!

Ducks essentially can be divided into two groups: the divers that dive beneath the surface of the water to feed, and the dabblers that feed mainly by ducking their heads under the water to gain access to food near the surface. Today we focus on diving ducks that are common to our Wisconsin waters. They are, from top to bottom:

Canvasback and American Coot Aythya valisineria and Fulica americana

1/8/2023 Los Angeles County, California

Canvasback Aythya valisineria

Canvasback Aythya valisineria

Another Gamebird Feathursday

Last week we discussed Wisconsin’s fall hunting season and the deeply ingrained tradition of the hunt in our state. Some might feel a bit squeamish or perhaps even repulsed by the idea of hunting our dear feathered neighbors. Here at UWM Special Collections, we love and respect our avian residents and visitors, but we also recognize and respect that hunting is a distinctive part of the Wisconsin character, even if we may not engage in it ourselves. So, in keeping with our fall hunting theme, we present a few four-color reproductions of gamebird paintings by the noted American wildlife artist Lynn Bogue Hunt from conservationist, avid bird-hunter, and former editor of Field & Stream magazine Ray P. Holland’s 1945 publication Shotgunning in the Lowlands, published in New York by A. S. Barnes and Company. Our copy is a 1946 second printing, produced in an edition of 2500 copies.

Ray Holland was a friend of Milwaukee-area celebrity, General Billy Mitchell, who is regarded as the father of the United States Air Force. We were taken by Holland’s remarks about Mitchell and his highly-controversial advocacy for American investment in air power, which opens the chapter on Sora hunting:

General Billy Mitchell told me that the sora rail was his favorite game bird. As far as I’m concerned, that alone put the sora in the upper brackets. General Mitchell has been more than vindicated in every statement he ever made. He was right about battleships, airplanes and many other things. Because the brass hats wouldn’t listen to him, this country has paid with the lives of men and millions of dollars. When he says the sora rail is a grand game bird, that is exactly what it is. No one knows much more about rail-birds and rail-bird shooting than did the former head of our air forces.