RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 181 



oldest sportsmen and fishermen, ever remember to have 

 seen one of this species before."' Mature specimens 

 have, no doubt, at all times been rare, but it is probable 

 that young birds have always been regular visitants, and 

 Mr. W. A. Durnford says ('•• Birds of Walney," 1883) 

 that this is so on the coast of Furness, and that they 

 are generally called Goosanders, a mistake ^Yhich may 

 easily be made. On the Lune, Mr. T. Jackson says the 

 Eed-breasted Merganser is b}' no means rare, and that 

 hardly a winter passes without its being seen : in that 

 of 1880 six birds were killed there by one shot. Inland 

 it is very seldom observed, and the only instance I have 

 heard of has been reported to me by Mr. W. Naylor, 

 who preserved one shot at Hacking boat on the Eibble 

 in the winter of 1876. 



SMEW. 



Mergus albellus, Linnffius. 



The Smew is a very rare winter visitor, and is gener- 

 ally seen only in hard weather [r.fi. 1891j . At Pilling 

 it used to occur, according to the Eev. J. D. Banister 

 (Mss.), and Mr. J. B. Hodgkinson saj^s one was shot 

 about the year 1874 near Preston. The origin of the 

 two specimens noted by Dr. Skaife (Mag. Xat. Hist., 

 1838) as having been obtained by him in the same town, 

 is not stated. Mr. Pi. Davenport writes me that " one 

 was shot on Bury reservoir some time ago, and is now 

 in Mr. Johnson's collection at Piadcliffe." ^To these 

 Mr. E. J. Howard adds: — "One on the Wyre, in 

 January 1886."— Ed.] 



