200 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs. 



Family— ANA TIDAL. 



Smew. 



Mergus albellus, LiNN. 



THIS handsome little Duck is much the rarest of the three European 

 Mergansers on the east coast of England ; in severe winters, the females 

 and young of the year are fairly common, but the adult male a rare bird and 

 seldom obtained. The few I have seen have almost invariably been shot in fresh- 

 water or well within the Humber. 



The Smew breeds nowhere in Great Britain or the Islands, nor in Fseroe, 

 Iceland or Greenland, nor does it nest anywhere in Norway and probably nowhere 

 nearer to the west than Russian Lapland, where Wolley first discovered the eggs. 

 Seebohm and Harvie-Brown saw many pairs near Habariki, on the Lower Petchora, 

 and the eggs were brought to tliem by the natives. According to Mr. Henke it 

 is common near Archangel, breeding in hollow trees. Seebohm found it on the 

 Yenisei, but it is absent from Mr. Popham's list of birds seen on that river in 

 1895. Mr. N. A. Severtzow closely examined a pair through his binoculars, at 

 the end of August, on the Boolum-kul, in the Pamir-Alichur, and concluded it 

 probably bred there, (" Ibis," 83, p. 77). Judging from its winter distribution it 

 probably nests across Asia as far north as the limits of the forest belt. It is 

 recorded as common near Astrakhan in summer, and nesting in trees, (" Ibis," 82, 

 p. 230). 



In the Caucasus it is only recognized as a winter visitor, but is not common. 

 In Turkestan it occurs both in winter and also on passage. Colonel Swinhoe had 

 three specimens shot near Kandahar. It visits Japan, Corea, China, and Northern 

 India in winter. Mr. F. W. Styan found it common on the Lower Yangtse Basin, 

 especially in March, when they arrive from the south, which is suggestive of a 

 further southern extension of its winter range. In Europe its winter quarters 

 extend over the whole of the British Islands. In East Prussia it is not rare up 

 to April. In Transylvania in large flocks up to the middle of March ; it is known 

 there as the " North Pole Diver." Common on the inland waters of Macedonia 

 in winter, but no adult males. A well-known visitor to the Swiss Lakes in the 

 same season, and also to Southern Spain. Colonel Irby says it occurs in some 



