701 



The Smew, or Nun, as the present species is also called, inhabits the northern and north-eastern 

 portions of Europe and Asia, only migrating southward into the central and southern countries 

 during the winter season. 



With us in Great Britain it is a tolerably rare straggler, occurring at irregular periods on 

 our coasts or on inland waters during the winter season ; and, so far as I can gather, it appears to 

 occur more frequently on our eastern than on our western coasts. In Scotland, according to 

 Mr. Robert Gray (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 397), it " is found only at irregular intervals. It has 

 been shot repeatedly on Loch Lomond ; and Mr. Elwes informs me that in Islay it is a very rare 

 winter visitor. In the southern counties it has occurred in Kirkcudbrightshire, Dumfriesshire, 

 and Wigtownshire. A male was killed on Castle-Kennedy Loch, near Stranraer, in March 1855, 

 as I have been informed by the Rev. G. Wilson, Glenluce. It may be remarked that in every 

 case the specimens were procured either on rivers or freshwater lochs. The most recently 

 killed examples of this handsome species which I have examined were obtained in the winter of 

 1868 — one, a female, on Loch Lomond, on 10th January, the other, a fine male, in Islay, in 

 February last. 



" On the east of Scotland the Smew has been much oftener observed, and has been met with 

 more frequently, perhaps, in East Lothian than in other counties. Nearly all the specimens I 

 have seen or heard of as visitants to that district have been shot in the Tyne estuary, where 

 many years ago I first had an opportunity of examining a newly-killed specimen ; it fell to the 

 gun of my lamented friend the late John Nelson, Esq., whose interesting collection contained 

 many valuable specimens of East Lothian birds." In Ireland, according to Thompson (B. of 

 Irel. iii. p. 159), it is a rare visitor to the northern districts, but appears to occur annually in 

 some of the central portions of the island. It has not been recorded from the Faeroes, and does 

 not appear to be common on the Norwegian coast, where Mr. Robert Collett says that it occurs 

 now and then during the winter season on the southern portions of the coast ; and Nilsson writes 

 that it is rather rare on the Swedish coast, arriving in December and leaving in March, arriving 

 singly or in pairs, and sometimes found in the rivers tolerably far inland. In Finland, Dr. Palmen 

 (Finl. Fogl. ii. p. 546) says, " it is tolerably rare, and breeds sparingly in the northern and 

 eastern districts. It is not known from the localities near the coast ; but according to Fellman 

 it is rare at Enare during the breeding-season ; and Grape also speaks of it as being rare at 

 Enontekis. Wolley says that it is not rare in the Muonio district, especially in a marsh through 

 which the Jerisjoki flows — and that where the Palojoki flows into the Muonio river there is an 

 island called Ungilonsaari, after this bird. . . . Soldan sent a number of eggs to the University 

 Museum from Kittila, probably a full clutch. At Pudasjarvi it occasionally breeds, but is com- 

 moner in the spring, and is rare at Kuusamo. Malmgren states that it breeds at Piispajtirvi, in 

 Kianto (65° N. lat.); and Kessler says that he found a family of them on the Sun River, a little 

 below Kiiwatsch, in 62° 15' N. lat., in Onega-Karelen, and further states that the peasants told 

 him that this bird affects the swiftest streams. During migration it occurs in other parts of the 

 country ; it has been twice observed near Kuopio in the spring, in company with Golden-eyes, 

 and has been occasionally obtained near Helsingfors, as also on Gland. It appears on the 

 southern coasts late in April or early in May." It appears to be not uncommon, ami breeds, in 

 Northern Russia. Meves saw a female with a family of young ones about one third grown, on 



