278 ANATID.E. 



By reversing the usual order of arrangement of the species 

 of this genus, and placing the smallest bird first, the transi- 

 tion from the oceanic Ducks to the Mergansers is easy and 

 natural, agreeing as well in general appearance as they are 

 known to assimilate in habits. The Smew, or Smee, as it 

 is sometimes called, is a winter visiter here, and the most 

 common species of the genus, frequenting our rivers and 

 large pieces of fresh water, as well as most parts of the coast. 

 The adult male is a handsome bird, remarkable for the con- 

 trast, rather than the variety of the colours of his plumage. 

 Young birds, frequently called Red-headed Smews, are much 

 more common in our markets than old males. As a species 

 they are shy and vigilant, taking long flights occasionally. 

 They feed on small fish, Crustacea, and aquatic insects, which 

 they obtain without difficulty, as they are excellent divers, 

 but when walking they appear to labour in their progression 

 from the backward position of their legs. 



Smews are not mentioned as having been known to breed 

 in this country, but leave us in spring to return to more 

 northern, or rather, north-eastern localities. Richard Dann, 

 Esq. tells me these birds are very common in the Elbe in 

 winter, and that he has seen them at the entrance of the 

 Stockholm Fiord in November, but nowhere else. Pennant, 

 in his Arctic Zoology, says, that in the Russian Empire 

 Smews frequent the same places with the Goosander ; each 

 of them retiring southward at the approach of winter ; and 

 are observed returning up the Volga in February, tending 

 towards the north. The nesting habits of the Smew are 

 unknown, but the eggs are said to be eight or ten in number, 

 and the colour whitish. 



This bird is not found on the west coast of Norway, on 

 the Faroe Islands, in Iceland, or Greenland. The species 

 was not observed by any of our Arctic travellers either on 

 the northern parts of the American continent or any of the 



