SMEW 335 



white, and the legs and toes are crimson on the outer and oran<i;e on 

 the inner side, with black webs to the latter. In non-breeding plumage 

 the drake resembles the duck, which is dull brown, becoming lighter 

 on the cheeks and under-parts, and with an indistinct white nape-patch ; 

 the beak being dark olive, and the legs and feet orange. Although 

 the plumage of young birds shows considerable variation in colour, it 

 generally approximates to that of the duck, but usually has a white 

 spot at the base of the beak and another on the ear-coverts. 



Why the inner and outer sides of the legs of the adult drake should 

 differ so markedly in colour requires explanation, as it is scarcely a 

 feature which would have been developed without special reason. 

 The length of the adult is about 20 inches. 



The surf-scoter is a native of North America, whence it straggles 

 to Greenland and northern Europe as far as Swedish Lapland. In 

 Orkney the surf-scoter was stated many years ago by a competent 

 observer to be by no means rare, although far from common ; and that 

 every season for some ten years he had seen one or more in company 

 with ordinary scoters in September or October. Apart from this 

 statement, something over twenty definite occurrences of the species in 

 the British Isles were recorded up to the year 1900, of which, as 

 might be expected, a considerable proportion relate to the western 

 coasts. Six records are credited to Ireland. 



There is nothing in the habits of this species calling for special 

 notice. 



Smew '^^^^ smew and the merganser are the last, and at 



(Merffus albellus) ^^^^ same time the most generalised representatives 

 of the family Anatidae, of which they constitute a 

 special subfamily group, the Merginae. Although evidently nearly 

 related to the diving ducks, these birds and their allies are broadly 

 distinguished by the narrow cormorant-like beak, which is hooked at 

 the tip, and has the cutting-edges notched in a saw-like fashion, and no 

 transverse plates on the internal surface. The feet are relatively large, 

 with a broad lobe on the lower surface of the hind-toe. In all their ex- 

 ternal characters these birds come much closer to cormorants than do 

 the typical ducks, and thus serve to indicate that the orders Anseres and 

 Steganopodes are probably divergent branches from a single ancestral 

 stock. At first sight this suggests that the diving habit is the one 

 which was common to the early Anseres ; the surface-feeding habit of 

 the swans, geese, and typical ducks being an acquired character. On 

 the other hand, the South American chaja {cJiauna), which is a more 



