364 THE BIRDS OF SUSSEX. 



it does not breed^ but the nest has often been found in Scot- 

 land. When the bird has been long in salt water, the breast 

 becomes of a rich salmon colour, I have a female in my own 

 collection, shot at Shoreham in February 1842. Mr. Jeffery 

 (p. n.) mentions a male, killed at Selsey, December 1864, and 

 that he saw another male, killed in the neighbourhood, at Mr. 

 Beatson^s shop in Chichester, in the same month ; that in 

 January 1867 they were numerous, and many were killed in 

 Chichester and Bosliam Harbours, and that be found an eel 

 nearly a foot long, and a small crab, in one from Bosham. 

 In 1871, Mr. Jeffery saw four in Bosham Harbour, also a 

 few on the 18th of January, 1873, and one in the same year as 

 late as August 1st. In the ' Zoologist ' (p. 6606), Mr. Wilson 

 records a male, shot near Worthing, in the spring of 1853. 



SMEW. 



Mergus albellus. 



The Smew may be found in this county in considerable 

 numbers, in most severe winters, the females, known as 

 '' Redheads,^^ being the most common. Like the rest of the 

 Mergi, it gets its living entirely by diving, at which it, like 

 them, is a great adept, fish being its only food. 



Mr. Wolley, while in Lapland, was the first to find out its 

 breeding habits, of which a most interesting account may be 

 found in ' The Ibis ' for 1859 (pp. 69 to 76) . The nest was 

 built in a hole of an old birch tree, which had been lined with 

 feathers. Mr. Wolley states that the Smew had a habit of 

 turing out the nest of the Golden-eye, and taking possession, 

 and that the eggs of the Smew being smaller, and thus less 

 saleable, the Smew, when caught in the hole, was killed by 

 the natives. I have an adult male in my own collection. 



