464 SISIEW. 



is generally distributed in winter. Its western breeding-limit ap- 

 pears to be in Finnish Lapland, and there Wolley obtained the 

 first authenticated eggs on record ; it also nests in Northern Russia 

 and for a considerable distance southward along the Ural Moun- 

 tains ; while lines of migration run down to the Grecian Archipelago, 

 the Black Sea, and the Caspian. In summer it is found across 

 Asiatic Siberia up to the limit of forest-growth, and in cold weather 

 it visits Japan, China, and Northern India ; there is, however, no 

 evidence of its occurrence in any part of America. 



It was only after four years of arduous research, and persistent 

 inquiry respecting the breeding habits of the ' Uinilo,' as the Finns 

 call the Smew, that Wolley succeeded in obtaining three eggs, which, 

 with the female bird, had been taken from a hollow in an old rotten 

 birch-stump, on June 8th 1857 ; while four more belonging to the 

 same clutch were afterwards sent to him. In 1875 Messrs. See- 

 bohm and Harvie-Browne had four eggs brought to them at Habariki 

 on the Petchora, a little south of the Arctic circle, and they after- 

 wards procured from the nest some of the down, which is white. 

 The eggs are cream-coloured, like those of the Wigeon, but they have 

 a close-grained and smoother surface, and are much heavier, though 

 slightly smaller: average measurements 2 in. by i'45 in. The 

 food consists of fish, crustaceans &c., and Mr. J. H. Gurney jun. 

 found a frog in the gullet of a bird which he purchased in Leaden- 

 hall Market in January 1867. The Smew, like the rest of the genus, 

 is an excellent diver, but it walks with difficulty, owing to the 

 backward position of its legs. 



The adult male in spring has the bill bluish-lead colour, with a 

 white nail ; irides reddish-brown ; before and below the eye a large 

 black patch; forehead, crown, and elongated crest satin-white, the 

 latter set off by a triangular patch of greenish-black ; throat, neck, 

 and under parts white ; back black, with a crescentic mottled band 

 of the same colour stretching over each, side of the shoulders, and 

 another in front of each wing ; scapulars white margined with black ; 

 lesser wing-coverts white ; greater coverts black, with two narrow 

 white bars ; quills and tail-feathers blackish-brown ; flanks finely 

 vermiculated with grey ; legs and toes lead-colour. In June the 

 female plumage is assumed and is retained until the autumn. 

 Length 17 in.; wing 7*45 in. The hen-bird is much smaller; she 

 has a black patch on the lores (not assumed till the second moult) ; 

 head reddish-brown, with a nuchal stripe and collar of ash-grey , 

 upper parts much as in the male ; under parts pure white. In the 

 young the upper surface is mottled with grey. 



