ae SL 
ee: 
INDIAN DUCKS AND TITEIR ALLIES. 9) 
tive regularity, though never, it would seem, in large numbers. In 
Bengal it is nowhere anything but a rare straggler, and Cuttack would 
appear to be its extreme limit south. 
In its northern homes the Smew generally  congregates in 
flocks, numbering anything from a dozen or so to nearly a 
couple of hundred, flocks of over fifty being the exception, 
Here, in India, even the latter number is very exceptional indecd, 
and most birds are seen in comparatively small parties of a dozen 
to twenty. Hume mentions as few as seven, and I saw five together, 
but there seems to be no record of single birds or pairs having been 
obtained. 
They are as much salt as fresh-water birds, though they do not seem 
to have been noticed on our Indian sea coasts. As might be expected 
of sea-haunting ducks, failing salt-water they keep almost entirely to 
Jarge open rivers and lakes ; but Hume notes :—“ I have, in unfrequent- 
ed lucalities, occasionally seen them on ordinary good-sized jhils 
covering, perhaps, barely a square mile.” They are essentially diving 
ducks, and as such naturally prefer water unencumbered by vegetation, 
and which is of considerable depth. They are wonderfully quick; 
active little birds in almost every way. On the wing they are very 
fast and strong, though they always prefer water to air when possible ; 
they get up very straight and quickly in spite of their short wings, 
rising lightly and at once getting into full flight. As swimmers and 
divers few birds can approach them, probably none can excel them, 
Hume gives them the reputation of being even better divers than 
Grebes and Cormorants and, as he watched them diving after fish and 
again when diving in clear water after being slightly wounded, he 
ought to know. Few of us have been as fortunate as Hume in this 
respect, but many people have doubtless seen the Cormorants and Snake- 
birds being fed at the Zoo and other places, so that we can appreciate 
what a compliment Hume pays the Smew when he declares it to be 
smarter even than these. 
ft swims very fast indeed and generally seeks escape by swimming 
and diving rather than by flight, and as it is a very wide-awake and 
extremely shy bird, it is no easy matter to get within shot. On foot, 
except perhaps rarely when it is found on rivers, it is almost impossible 
to get a shot, as they always keep well away from the shores and from 
