Species III. MERGUS ALBELLUS. 



THE SMEW, OR WHITE NUN. 



[Plate LXXI. Fig. 4.] 



Le petit Earle hujjp^, ou la Pietie, Briss. vi., p. 243, 3, pi. 24, fig. 1. — Buff, tiii., 

 p. 275, pi. 24. — PL Enl. 449, male 450, female. — Bewick, ii., p. 238. — Lath. Syn. 

 III., p. 428.— ^cd. Zool. No. 468. 



This is another of those Mergansers commonly known in this country 

 by the appellation of Fishermen, Fisher Ducks, or Divers. The present 

 species is much more common on the coasts of New England than farther 

 to the south. On the shores of New Jersey it is very seldom met with. 

 It is an admirable diver, and can continue for a long time under water. 

 Its food is small fry, shell fish, shrimps, &c. In England, as with us, 

 the Smew is seen only during winter ; it is also found in France, in 

 some parts of which it is called la Piette, as in parts of England it is 

 named the Magpie Diver. Its breeding place is doubtless in the Arctic 

 regions, as it frequents Iceland ; and has been observed to migrate with 

 other Mergansers and several kinds of Ducks up the river Wolga in 

 February.* 



The Smew, or White Nun, is nineteen inches in length, and two feet 

 three inches in extent ; bill black, formed very much like that of the 

 Red-breasted M., but not so strongly toothed ; irides dark ; head 

 crested ; crown white, hind head black, round the area of the eye a 

 large oval space of black ; whole neck, breast, and belly white, marked 

 on the upper and lower part of the breast with a curving line of black ; 

 back black ; scapulars white, crossed with several faint dusky bars ; 

 shoulder of the wing and primaries black, secondaries and greater 

 coverts black broadly tipped with white ; across the lesser coverts a 

 large band of white ; sides and flanks crossed with waving lines ; tail 

 dark ash ; legs and feet pale bluish slate. 



The female is considerably less than the male ; the bill a dark lead 

 color ; crest of the same peculiar form as that of the male, but less, and 

 of a reddish brown ; marked round the area of the eyes with dusky ; 

 cheeks, fore part of the neck, and belly white ; round the middle of the 

 neck a collar of pale brown ; breast and shoulders dull brown and 



* Dec. Russ. II., p. 145. 



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