

Red-breasted Merganser. 495 



it is called in Devonshire ; and indeed the head of the female^ 

 which is very small, does in colour resemble in some degree 

 that of the Weasel. Mr. Cecil Smith says it is also known in 

 Somersetshire as the ' Weasel Coot/ as well as the c Ked-breasted 

 Smew '; and elsewhere it is known as the ' White Nun/ and the 

 ' White Widgeon.' The generic name, mergus, meaning ' Diver/ 

 is appropriate enough, and the specific term, albellus, ' the Little 

 White Bird/ is equally applicable. In Germany it is the Weisser 

 Sager, or ' the White Sawyer/ The terms ' Red-breasted Smew/ 

 and 'Lough Diver/ refer only to the young bird in immature 

 plumage. Like most of its congeners, it is a very shy bird, and 

 cannot tolerate the presence of man. Its true home seems to be 

 the northern countries of Europe and Asia, more especially 

 Northern Russia and Northern Siberia. It would be but 

 blemishing the tale if I were to attempt to condense the admir- 

 able account by the late J. Wolley of the nesting of the Smew, 

 which, until its discovery by that ardent, painstaking ornitho- 

 logist, was wholly unknown. I must therefore refer my readers- 

 to the story as told by him in the Ibis for 1859, pp. 69-76 ; and 

 also for an excellent account of the same bird in its native 

 haunts to Messrs. Seebohm and Harvie Brown's paper on the 

 Birds of the Lower Petchora, in the Ibis for 1876, p. 448. In 

 France it is Le petit Harle Jiuppe, ou la Piette ; in Italy, Mergo 

 oca minore ; and in Sweden, Sal-Skrake. 



203. RED BREASTED MERGANSER (Mergus serrator}. 



The form of beak at once proclaims that the habits of all the 

 species of Mergansers are identical. This is a more common 

 bird than that last described, but is seldom found inland. I 

 have, however, positive evidence of the occurrence of one fine 

 specimen which Lord Nelson pointed out to me in his collection,, 

 which was killed in his water on the Avon, by the Rev. J. N. 

 Neate, in December, 1864 ; of another killed by Mr. Heath at 

 Quemerford, near Calne, about 1860 ; of another taken at Trow- 

 bridge, in March, 1873; and of another fine specimen shot at 

 Great Bedwyn, and presented to the Wiltshire Archaeological 



