ANATID/E. 



475 



THE SMEW. 



Mergus albellus, Linnaeus. 



The Smew, or Smee — sometimes called Nun, from the sharply 

 contrasted plumage of the male — is the smallest member of the 

 genus, and the least numerous of the three " Saw-bills " which 

 frequent our islands. Young birds and females, known to fisher- 

 men as Red-headed Smews, are not uncommon in winter along the 

 eastern side of England and Scotland, but males in full dress are 

 seldom met with, as they keep further out at sea, and rarely approach 

 the shore, except in very severe weather. In the south this species 

 is of tolerably regular occurrence on the sheltered estuaries and 

 inland waters ; but it is comparatively scarce along the west coast 

 of England and Wales, and also of Scotland, save round the Inner 

 Hebrides. In the Orkneys it is not uncommon, but it is seldom 

 seen in the Shetlands. To Ireland it is an irregular visitor — chiefly 

 to fresh-water — in the cold season. 



This species is not known in the Freroes, Iceland or Greenland, 

 and even in winter is seldom found on the coast of Norway or of 

 that portion of Sweden which lies outside the Baltic ■. though on 

 its south-westerly migrations it skirts the Atlantic sea-board of 

 Europe and reaches Morocco. The extensive lakes of Switzerland 



