516 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



male Smew kept for some time in the ornamental 

 waters in St. James's Park, London, and Yarrell says 

 that before the middle of July it regularly assumed 

 the plumage of the female, reassuming its own 

 plumage again at the autumn moult. The female 

 differs exceedingly in plumage : there is a dull black 

 mark between the beak and the eye ; the rest of the 

 head and back of the neck are reddish brown ; the 

 back is nearly black, each feather margined with 

 lead- grey; the rump and upper tail-coverts are 

 black, some of the feathers margined with lead- grey ; 

 the lesser wing-coverts outside and at the point of 

 the wing black, those inside white, making a large 

 white patch on the wing ; the greater coverts black, 

 tipped with white ; secondary quills the same, the 

 two rows of tips making two white lines on the wing ; 

 primary quills black ; the chin and throat are white ; 

 the breast is white, clouded (especially on the sides) 

 with lead-grey, as are the hinder parts of the flanks ; 

 the rest of the under parts are white. One of my 

 specimens has some of the greater wing-coverts, and 

 of the secondaries furthest from the body, mottled 

 with reddish brown, us are some of the scapulars. 

 As in the case of the Goldeneye, the difference of 

 plumage of the old males from the young males and 

 females has led to some confusion, the birds in this 

 plumage being the "Redheaded Smew" or " Weesel 

 Coot" and the "Lough Diver" of Bewick. 



Yarrell says the eggs are of a uniform rich buff. 



