SMEW. 95 



Male; weight, a little over a pound and a half; length, one 

 foot five inches, to one foot five and a half. Bill, bluish leaden 

 grey colour, the tooth white a black patch , with green 

 reflections, extends from its base to and round the eye. Iris, 

 reddish brown; head, white, except that from the crown another 

 dark patch, tinged with green, descends down the back of the 

 neck; it assumes the form of a crest, intermixed with some 

 long white feathers: they are of a silky texture: neck, white, 

 with the exception above named. Chin and throat, white; 

 breast, white, but two half-moon-shaped streaks of black run 

 forwards from the back in front of the wing, one of them for 

 an inch and a half, the other about an inch farther back; 

 the sides are barred with fine grey zigzag lines. Back, on 

 the middle part, black. 



Greater wing coverts, deep glossy black, tipped with white; 

 lesser wing coverts, partly white. Primaries, dusky black; 

 secondaries, deep glossy black, fringed narrowly and tipped 

 with white, forming two small bands across the wing; ter- 

 tiaries, leaden grey, the outer feathers the lightest coloured. 

 Tail, greyish ash-colour, and wedge-shaped; upper tail coverts, 

 greyish ash-colour; under tail coverts, white. Legs and toes, 

 bluish grey; webs, bluish grey. 



Like the Ducks, the male Smew assumes the plumage of 

 the female in the beginning of June, and retains it till the 

 autumnal moult, when he re-assumes his own costume. 



The female is much less than the male. Weight, fifteen 

 ounces: length, one foot two inches and a half, to one foot 

 three or four; bill, bluish lead-colour at its base is a black 

 patch. Iris, reddish, brown. Head and crown, reddish chesnut 

 brown, which colour goes down the upper part of the neck; 

 this colour is darkest between the bill and the eye, where 

 the black patch exists in the male; the feathers on the 

 crown and occiput are elongated, and on the last-named 

 somewhat hackled. On the back of the neck and nape the 

 dark streak running downward till it encircles the front, spreads 

 out before and towards the back. The sides of the upper 

 part of the neck white. Chin and throat, white; breast above, 

 light greyish white, below white, the sides and flanks grey; 

 back above, dark greyish brown; on the middle and lower 

 part, greyish black. 



Greater wing coverts, deep greyish black, tipped with white; 

 lesser wing coverts, greyish white on the middle part. Pri- 

 maries, dusky greyish black j secondaries, deep greyish black, 



