54 ALLEN'S NATU&ALIS'S LIBRARY. 



with stems three or four feet in diameter, conceal charming 

 little alder- and willow-fringed pools, and fallen trunks, covered 

 with moss and lichen, provide excellent cover for watching the 

 Ducks swimming fearlessly in these little paradises. The Smew 

 is the greatest ornament of these picturesque little spots, but is 

 not quite so common as Teal, Wigeon, and Pin-tail. We did 

 not succeed in taking the nest of the Smew, but having com- 

 missioned some of the villagers to bring us eggs and down of 

 Ducks, we were delighted to receive a clutch of what looked 

 like Wigeon's eggs with pale grey down. The man who 

 brought it knew the bird well, and told us that he had taken 

 the eggs from a hollow tree." 



Describing the habits of the Smew in winter, Mr. Hume 

 writes: "They are eminently gregarious, and are always to be 

 seen in flocks of from seven to forty, and rarely in smaller or 

 larger parties than from about a dozen to about twenty. 

 Large rivers like the Indus (I have never seen them on the 

 Jumna or Ganges), or large lakes covering twenty square miles 

 and upwards of country, are what they chiefly affect ; and on 

 these, even though shot at repeatedly, they will remain for 

 months. I have, however, in unfrequented localities, occa- 

 sionally seen them on ordinary good-sized jhils, covering, per- 

 haps, barely a single square mile, but these they desert directly 

 they are at all worried. 



" They swim and dive splendidly, and if only a single boat 

 is after them they will constantly stick to the water even after 

 being fired at, rising perhaps at the moment, but dropping within 

 fifty yards, and instantly diving to re-appear from fifty to a 

 hundred yards beyond the place at which they vanished. They 

 come up scattered, but all swim converging on one point, and 

 in a few minutes they are swimming away in a close lump, just 

 as before you fired. But if two or three boats hem them in they 

 generally rise, and if the place is small, disappear if large, circle 

 round and light again a couple of miles off. They spring out of 

 the water with ease, and fly with great rapidity, quite as quickly 

 and easily as the Common Teal, but almost silently, and with 

 less of a perceptible wing-rustle than any species I know. This 

 is probably due to their very narrow, pointed, somewhat curved 

 wings, by which they can be instantly recognised when flying. 

 They are very active, restless birds, almost always swimming 



