THE SMEWS. 53 



first parts to get black, and the white markings on the upper 

 surface are assumed in their first spring, though a male bird 

 killed by Consul Swinhoe near Shanghai in February is still 

 in the female plumage, but has an entirely black loral 

 patch. 



Nestlings. These are described by Count Salvador! as being 

 dark brown, with a very small white spot below the eye. 

 There are also white spots on the posterior edge of the wing, 

 on the sides of the back, just near the joint of the wing, the 

 sides of the rump, and on the flanks. The under surface of 

 the body is white, the throat and upper part of the neck con- 

 spicuously so ; the crop dusky. 



Range in Great Britain. It is rare to find a fully adult male 

 Smew in collections of British-killed birds, as the old birds are 

 seldom killed, but young ones are not unfrequently captured. 

 The species is a winter visitor only, rarer on our western coasts, 

 but occurring with more or less frequency in all three kingdoms. 



Range outside the British Islands. The Smew is a thoroughly 

 Palcearctic species, and breeds in the high north from Finnish 

 Lapland across Northern Russia and Siberia. In winter it 

 visits Great Britain and the Atlantic coasts of Western Europe, 

 and migrates south by the great river-routes till it reaches the 

 Mediterranean, North-western India, and it extends at this 

 season of the year to Japan and China. Its reported occur- 

 rence in Eastern North America requires confirmation, and 

 it is not known from the Faroes, Iceland, or Greenland. 



Habits. The first recorded instance of the finding of the 

 eggs of the Smew is to the credit of our enterprising country- 

 man, the late John Wolley, the discoverer of the eggs of so 

 many rare European birds. They were procured by him in 

 Finnish Lapland. 



Years afterwards the celebrated expedition to the Petchora 

 by Messrs. Seebohm and Harvie-Brown made us better ac- 

 quainted with the nesting-habits of the bird. Mr. Seebohm 

 observes : " A few miles to the south of the Arctic Circle, in 

 the valley of the Petchora, lies the small town of Haberiki, con- 

 taining about a dozen houses. The timber for about a mile 

 round has been cleared, but beyond the country consists of 

 alternate lake, swamp, and forest. Grand old pines and larches, 



