I20 British Diving Ducks * 
ishing assertion that this species breeds at one or two of the lakes in the Dobrudscha, and 
asserts that he has obtained several nests there. Confirmation seems to be needed, though 
the breeding on the Volga is almost as extraordinary. Smews certainly remain very late 
in the spring on the lagoons on the Lower Danube.] 
Asia. — S. A. Buturlin {Joe. cit.) says near Tjumen, and possibly in the Tomsk Govern- 
ment south to 52° N., farther east to Kamtschatka, but not the Commander Isles. It 
avoids the tundras. Cf. Severtzow, Ibis, 1883, p. 77 ; also Ibis, 1909, p. 284. 
Migration Range. 
British Isles. — Chiefly to the east coasts of Great Britain, and occasionally to large 
sheets of inland waters. Also regularly to the south coasts of England, principally west 
of Sussex. Not uncommon on the Inner Hebrides, but rare on the Outer Hebrides, 
Orkneys, and Shetlands.^ It is also rare in N. Wales (Forrest), and in Ireland (Saunders, 
Ussher, and Warren, &c.). Ussher, in his latest list (1908), describes it as a rare and casual 
winter visitor, chiefly to Leinster and Ulster, and found more frequently on fresh water. 
Nearly all the large sheets of fresh water of Central England and Scotland are visited 
occasionally by the Smew. In Scotland I have seen it several times on Loch Leven, and 
to Loch Lomond it is almost a regular visitor in late autumn, as it is to Wigtownshire, 
Solway, and the large lakes of Kirkcudbright. I have also seen Smews in the estuaries of 
the Tay, Eden, and Forth, and twice off Musselburgh, East Lothian. North of this it 
seems to be rare, only occurring occasionally on the coast lakes and river mouths of Aber- 
deenshire (Sim). It is almost a regular visitor to the Tyne estuary and the Wash, but 
becomes rare again until we find it almost regular in its appearance on the coasts of Devon 
and Dorset. Poole Harbour used to be a favourite place for Smews in the old days, and a 
few still come there every winter. I received two from the mouth of the Arun (Sussex) 
in January 191 o. 
Europe. — It is absent from the Faeroes and Iceland, but migrates across the Baltic, and 
in a S.W. direction along the Atlantic coast, as well as across Europe to the Swiss lakes 
and the Mediterranean. Others migrate to the ./Egean Sea, and the Black and Caspian Seas 
(Saunders, p. 476). Recorded from Gibraltar Bay (Irby, Orn. Str. Gibraltar, p. 232) ; Sar- 
dinia (Brooke, Ibis, 73, p. 345) ; Algeria (Loche) ; Tunisia (Whitaker, B. of Tunisia, ii. p. 224) ; 
N. and Central Italy, sometimes abundant {ibid}) ; Greece (Reiser, Ornis Balcanica, p. 506) ; 
Malta {Ibis, 1864, p. 291); Palestine coast once (Tristram, Ibis, 68, p. 328). 
Asia. — Asia Minor {yj. f. O., 1908, p. 621) ; Talysch, Caspian Sea {/. f. O., 19 10, p. 72) ; 
Tehran, Persia (Blanford, Zool. E. Persia, ii. p. 303); Afghanistan {Ibis, 1882, p. 125); 
Turkestan {Ibis, 1876, p. 421) ; N. India, Kashmir, Quetta, Thall, Kohat, and Indus {Ibis, 
1909, p. 284) ; Punjab, N.W.P., Sind, Oude, &c. {cf. Hume and Oates, Faun, of India, Ares 
iv. p. 468), but not in S. India or Burma; N. China, Yangtze R. {P.Z.S., 1871, p. 416); 
Mr. Carey tells me it is a very common bird at the mouth of the Yangtze in winter ; Fokien 
{J. f. O., 19 10, p. 480) ; Japan (Seebohm, B.Jap. Emp., p. 259). 
\_America. — A female now in the British Museum, purchased from the Hudson Bay 
^ I do not know on what authority the authors of the Hand-List of Brit. Birds (p. 147) state that it is not uncommon " in the 
Orkneys. I never saw a specimen there in ten years of winter shooting. Mr. R. Heddle {Fauna of the Orkney Islands, p. 186) 
says " that the Smew is at times common in Hoy Sound," but I think that this is a mistake. — J. G. M. 
