40 INDIAN SPORTING BIRDS 



singly or in flocks, and Mr. Baker has shot one consorting with 

 gadwall, and noticed that it flew well with them ; in fact, this is 

 the most active f[yev of all the diving-ducks except perhaps the 

 smew. In the water it is a fine performer, and catches fish like 

 the mergansers, also feeding on shell-fish and water-weeds. In 

 diving it seems to slip under, as it were, more neatly than the 

 pochards, the fanning-out of the tail being conspicuous as it 

 disappears ; and it has been noticed that when a flock are below 

 and an alarm comes from above, all the diving individuals will 

 rise and make off out of shot, not coming up and giving the enemy 

 a chance as the pochards will do. The general character of the 

 bird is, in fact, one of extreme wariness, and in this respect it is a 

 merganser rather than a true or typical duck. The alarm-note 

 is given by Mr. Baker as " a loud squawk," but this is no doubt 

 uttered by the female only ; the male's note is different, as is 

 the case with the male mergansers, which this bird resembles 

 in having a large angular bulb in the windpipe. A peculiarity 

 of its beak, unique among Indian birds, should be noticed ; the 

 nostrils are very near the tip, further forward even than in a 

 goose. As an article of food this bird is highly fishy; but its 

 green eggs are esteemed by the inhabitants of the north, who 

 put up boxes for it to lay in. 



Smew. 



* Mergus alhellns. Nihenne, Sindi. 



The pretty little smew is at once known from all our diving- 

 ducks by its short narrow dark beak ; its quick nimble way of 

 rising into the air is also distinctive among this splattering 

 tribe, though it often prefers to swim, which it can do at great 

 speed, rather than fly. It can swim either high or low in the 

 water, and is exceedingly wary. 



The adult male's plumage is very distinctive and beautiful, 

 being white below and on the head and neck, except for a black 

 patch on each side of the face, like a mask, and a black Y at 

 the back of the head, which has a full, though short crest. 



* Mercjfillus on plate. 



