SMEW. 175 
the bird has been ‘taken rarely in severe winters.’! A 
male and female in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, 
were obtained at Burton Rocks in 1885. 
SMEW. 
MERGUS ALBELLUS, Linnzeus. 
In severe winters the Smew has been occasionally 
observed upon the Cheshire coast. Byerley mentions 
the occurrence of two examples on the Mersey: one 
shot at Weston by Mr. Banks in January 1854, and 
another which was taken at Tranmere. In January 
1861, examples obtained on the Dee near Chester were 
sent to Shaw of Shrewsbury for preservation. Captain 
Congreve has a bird in his collection which was shot 
at Burton on January 22nd, 1838.4 In 1891, several 
Smews frequented the tidal waters of the Dee, about 
which the following notes were supplied to Dr. Dobie 
by Mr. R. Newstead :— During the severe weather of 
January 1891, seven of this very beautiful species were 
seen on several occasions in the river Dee, in the 
neighbourhood of Saltney Ferry. Three of them, two 
males and a female, were shot by Mr. T. H. Hignett 
on the 14th, and were presented to the Museum. 
Subsequently Mr. Hignett shot another male; this, 
unfortunately, dropped on the floating ice, and was 
probably carried out to sea. 
‘On the 18th, I was fortunate in seeing two males 
swimming near the Chester side of the river, a little 
below the Saltney Ferry. The birds saw me 
1 Byerley, op. cit. p. 21. 2 Thid. 
3 J. Shaw, Zoologist, ser. 1. vol. xix. p. 7388. 1861. 
4 Dobie, op. cit. p. 327. 
