SMEW 41 



The rest of the plumage is black, white, and grey, no other 

 colour appearing. The weight is about a pound and a half. 

 Females and young males, which are much smaller, the male 

 not attaining either full size or colour till his second year, and 

 much more likely to be met with, are dark grey above and white 

 below, with bright chestnut head and white throat, and black- 

 and-white wings. They weigh little over the ' pound. The 

 short narrow beak and bright chestnut head with pure white 

 throat extending well up on the jaws make the name .of 

 "weasel-coot," or its equivalent " vare-wigeon," sometimes 

 given as this bird's old Enghsh names, quite intelligible, as 

 there is something decidedly weaselly about the bird's look. 

 In its extreme activity also this little fishing duck recalls the 

 smallest of the four-footed carnivora ; it is the fastest diver 

 of all our waterfowl, flies with ease and speed, and even on 

 land, in spite of the breadth of its body and shortness of its legs, 

 to say nothing of its very large feet, moves quite quickly and 

 looks far less ungainly than many ducks one would expect to 

 walk better. 



In this activity this bird resembles the mandarin duck, w4iich 

 also, by dint of sheer energy of movement, is able to hold its 

 own with other ducks in departments for which they seem to be 

 better adapted structurally. Another coincidence between these 

 two pretty species is the fact that they both breed in holes in 

 trees ; but the smew is even less likely than the mandarin to be 

 found breeding here. So far it is only known as a winter visitor 

 to the north of India, from ISind to Assam ; it does not appear 

 to go further south than Cuttack, and though fairly well known 

 in the North-west is not abundant anywhere. It is generally 

 seen in flocks of about a dozen, but pairs or single birds may 

 occur. In the case of one such which was shot, the flesh was 

 found to be quite good eating, which was rather unexpected, the 

 smew generally having a particularly bad name for excessive 

 fishiness of flavour. Besides fish, however, it feeds on water- 

 insects and shellfish, and even aquatic plants. 



It is a widely distributed bird, ranging all across the Old 

 World, though it only breeds in high latitudes. The courtship 

 is very interesting to watch, the bird swimming about with the 



