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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 fishermen 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 seasons. In the south it is of tolerably 

 regular occurrence on the sheltered estuaries and inland waters ; 

 though along the west coast of England, and also of Scotland, it 

 is comparatively scarce, and in the Outer Hebrides is decidedly 

 rare. To Ireland it is an irregular visitor in cold weather. 



This species is not known in the Faeroes, 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 goes as far as Morocco. The extensive lakes of Switzerland 

 and Central Europe prove attractive to a tolerable number, and many 

 pass down the Rhone valley to the Mediterranean, where the bird 



