The Smew. ^oi 



years about the Straits in immature plumage. It is not uncommon in Sardinia 

 in winter, and has been obtained in Corsica. Although scarce on the African side 

 it is generally distributed in the Mediterranean, reaching these southern waters, 

 like other northern nesting Ducks, by one or other of the three chief great lines 

 of migration of the Anatida, namely— the valley of the Rhone into the Gulf of the 

 Lion, East Prussia to the head of the Adriatic, and the line of the Volga and 

 Don to the Black Sea, in which latter locality it is very common in winter. 



The Smew is an extremely rare visitor to the Shetlands, and appears almost 

 equally uncommon in the Orkneys. It is not uncommon on the west coast of Scotland 

 and along the line of the Inner Hebrides, and has also been seen in summer. On 

 the east coast of Scotland it is much more frequently met with. The Rev. H. A. 

 Macpherson considers it a rare winter visitor to the Lake district. Sir R. 

 Payne-Gallwey says, the Smew is an uncommon visitant to Ireland, but not so 

 unfrequent in the extreme north of the country, where the fowlers know it by the 

 name of the " White Wigeon," " Weasel Wigeon," this latter refers to the small 

 head of the female and its chestnut colour. On the Lincolnshire coast it is called 

 the " Smee," " Weasel-head." Mr. Swainson gives " White Nun " as a local name 

 in Ireland, but I have not heard it applied to this Duck anywhere in England. 



On the south coast of England the Smew is fairly common in most severe 

 winters, the females and young, however, largely predominating.* At Heligoland 

 the adult is of extremely rare occurrence, but in 1847, with persistent S.E. winds 

 during the latter half of December and throughout January, an unusual number 

 of Smews occurred along with enormous numbers of other Anatida, notably Meigus 

 serrator. 



We are indebted to the late Mr. John WoUey for the first discovery of the 

 breeding of the Smew in Arctic Europe. This he accomplished after four years 

 of unremitting enquiry and labour in the wilds of, then little known, Lapland. 

 Mr. Wolley's death, at the early age of thirty-six, was a great loss to ornithologists, 

 and there is no doubt had he lived he would have done splendid work and risen 

 to the very highest position possible in his special study. It was on the 30th of 

 July, 1857, when he received from his agent the butter-box containing the skin of 

 the female Smew, and three of the precious eggs wrapped in tow ; subsequently 

 he obtained other eggs, specimens of the down, and full particulars of the nesting 

 habits. The nest was placed in a rotten birch stump ; the down pale in colour ; 

 the eggs much resembling those of the Wigeon in size, but more flattened at the 



* In the late summer of 1897, a pair of adult Smews were seen on the Devon coast by Dr. Elliot, of Kings- 

 bridge and recorded by him in the "Field" Newspaper; this is the only proved case o[ M. albellus visiting 

 Western Europe at this season. 



