302 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
above, if not all, may be some of the specimens referred to 
by Robert Gray when he writes in 1871 that this species has 
occurred in Dumfriesshire.* 
William Hastings received a Smew which was shot at 
Lochmaben in the winter of 1878-1879,t and another in 
1879-18804 The lacustrine district of Lochmaben, though 
some eight to ten miles from the sea, often attracts storm- 
driven rarities. In the Birds of Cumberland, pubHshed in 
1886, it is stated that an immature bird was shot on the 
Scottish side of the Solway, " about five years since,"§ and 
Mr. J. Harkness writes me that he has a Smew shot in 1886 
by WiUiam Murray, of Priestside (Cummertrees). During 
the severe weather of January and February, 1891, Smews 
were more plentiful than usual on the Solway, and among 
them were several adult males. An immature female was 
obtained at Riggfoot (Gretna) on January 11th, 1907,|| and 
Mr. T. Ranken writes me from Dalswinton (Kirkmahoe) that 
he shot a female Smew there on January 6th, 1908. It was 
one of two which rose from a ditch near the Nith. Dalswin- 
ton is some ten miles from the sea, and there was hard frost 
and snow at the time. This specimen (which is not a male, 
as I have previously recorded it^) is still in the possession 
of Mr. T. Ranken. 
The Smew nests in Finnish Lapland, parts of north 
Russia and up to the hmit of forest-growth across Siberia, 
and in winter it visits parts of central and western Europe, 
while it is generally distributed in the Mediterranean ; it also 
visits China, Japan and north India. Specimens which occur 
on the coast of Great Britain are for the most part in 
immature or female dress, the full plumage of the male not 
being assumed until the second year. These fuU-plumaged 
* Birds of West Scotland, 1871, p. 397. 
t Trans. D. and Q. Nat. Hist. Soc, November 7th, 1879. 
X Proc. Nat. Hist. Soc. Olasg., 1880, Vol. IV., p. 323. 
§ Birds of Cumberland, 1886, p. 119. 
II Tullie House Museum Registers. 
«If Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1908, p. 119. 
