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SMEW. _ 95 
Male; weight, a little over a pound and a half; length, one 
foot five inches, to one foot five and a half. Bill, bluish Jeaden 
grey colour, the tooth white—a black patch, with green 
reflections, extends from its base to and round the eye. Iris, 
reddish brown; head, white, except that from the crown another 
dark patch, tinged with green, descends down the back of the 
neck; it assumes the form of a crest, intermixed with some 
long white feathers: they are of a silky texture: neck, white, 
with ‘the exception above named. Chin and throat, white; 
breast, white, but two half-moon-shaped streaks of black run 
forwards from the back im front of the wing, one of them for 
an inch and a half, the other about an inch farther back; 
the sides are barred with fine grey zigzag lines. Back, on 
the middie part, black. 
Greater wing coverts, deep glossy black, tipped with white; 
lesser wing coverts, partly white. Primaries, dusky black; 
secondaries, deep glossy black, fringed narrowly and tipped 
with white, forming two small bands across the wing; ter- 
tiaries, leaden grey, the outer feathers the lightest coloured. 
Tail, greyish ash-colour, and wedge-shaped; upper tai! coverts, 
greyish ash-colour; under tail coverts, white. Legs and toes, 
bluish grey; webs, bluish grey. 
Like the Ducks, the male Smew assumes the plumage of 
the female in the beginning of June, and retains it till the 
autumnal moult, when he re-assumes his own costume. 
The female is much less than the male. Weight, fifteen 
ounces: length, one foot two inches and a half, to one foot 
three or four; bill, bluish lead-colour—at its base is a black 
patch. Iris, reddish brown. Head and crown, reddish chesnut 
brown, which colour goes down the upper part of the neck; 
this colour is darkest between the bill and the eye, where 
the black patch exists in the male; the feathers on the 
crown and occiput are elongated, and on the last-named 
somewhat hackled. On the back of the neck and nape the 
dark streak running downward till it encircles the front, spreads 
out before and towards the back. ‘The sides of the upper 
part of the neck white. hin and throat, white; breast above, 
light greyish white, below white, the sides and flanks grey; 
back above, dark greyish brown; on the middle and lower 
part, greyish black. 
Greater wing coverts, deep greyish black, tipped with white; 
lesser wing coverts, greyish white on the middle part. Pri- 
maries, dusky greyish black; secondaries, deep greyish black, 
