464 GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL. 



depth, and remain under water for a minute at a time. The food 

 of this Duck is composed principally of small fish, but frogs, 

 aquatic insects, and crustaceans are also eaten. The bird is not 

 known to eat anything of a vegetable nature. The note of 

 the Smew is described as a harsh kurr, but it is a remarkably 

 silent bird in its winter quarters. Jerdon states that it utters an 

 oft-repeated bell-like call, probably at its breeding grounds, 

 because this peculiar note has won for it the name of Bell Duck in 

 Northern Asia. The flesh of this species is rank and unpalatable. 



Nidification.— The breeding grounds of the Smew are 

 situated in the swampy forest districts of the Arctic regions 

 where lakes and streams abound, where big swamps, studded with 

 pools, connected by streams, and surrounded by trees form a 

 pleasant relief to the monotony of the northern forests. It is a 

 rather late breeder, not laying until July or the very end of June. 

 The nest is placed either in a hollow fallen log, or in a hole in 

 the trunk of a tree or broken stump. The first eggs are laid on 

 the powdered wood at the bottom of the hole, but as the clutch is 

 completed a plentiful lining of down is added, plucked from the 

 body of the female. The eggs are from seven to eight in number, 

 creamy white in colour, smooth in texture, and with some gloss. 

 They measure on an average 2"o inches in length by i"47 inch in 

 breadth. Down tufts moderate and very pale grayish white. The 

 female usually conveys her brood to the nearest water in her bill. 

 Only one brood is reared in the year, and it would appear that 

 the duck and her young, or at least the young, keep company 

 during the winter. 



Diagnostic Characters. — (Nuptial plumage), Mergus, with 

 the head (crested) and neck white, except a large spot between 

 the eye and the bill, and another on each side of the nape, where 

 fhey meet, which are black shot with green (adult male) ; with 

 the feathers of the forehead, crown, and nape (the latter elongated 

 into a crest) chestnut, and with a large black patch between the 

 eye and the bill (adult female). Length, 17 to 18 inches (male) j 

 15 to 17 inches (female). 



