S M E W. 
MERGVS ALBELLUS. 
The Smew appears to be met with more frequently on the southern and eastern coasts of England than 
on any other portion of the British Islands ; during the seasons I passed shooting and collecting on the firths 
of the Northern Highlands and about the sandy bays of the Eorth in East Lothian, not a single specimen 
was met with. 
In the winters of 1859 and the three or four following years several, in various stages of plumage, were 
obtained by the local fowlers about the open- water dykes and pools in the marshes round Hye and Winchelsea, 
as well as on the river and harbour near the former town. An old gunner who had followed his calling 
with the help of an antiquated and rickety musket, apparently utterly unserviceable, but making, according 
to its owner’s report, most marvellous shots, brought for my inspection an adult male in the finest state of 
plumage ; this handsome fowl he persisted in calling a “ Greenland ice-bird.” I did not then succeed in 
securing a single specimen, either adult or immature ; a duck and drake knocked down with the same 
barrel one wintry evening in December 1861, while flying out of the Nook, were carried out of the harbour 
on the ebb-tide, the rapidly increasing darkness precluding all chances of falling in with them if followed in 
a boat. A few days later, on a cold frosty morning shortly after daybreak, I was watching another fine old 
drake flying down from the upper part of the river in a line for the harbour, and remarked that the course 
he was holding must bring him within range, when a couple of shots fired by a gunner concealed in an old and 
disabled craft lying on the mudflats, though apparently with little effect, caused the bird to swerve to the 
west and lower his line of flight. As he gradually dropped I took out the glasses and kept him in view, 
till, while crossing the line of railway towards the harbour mouth, he came in contact with a notice-board, 
and after fluttering a short distance, rose a few feet in the air and instantly fell. On making my way to 
the spot, I mounted the post of a marsh-gate to obtain a view, and at once detected the old drake with his 
wings spread out in a small drain, his conspicuous plumage at once attracting attention. Having a good 
idea as to Avhere the gunner wlio fired the shot might be found, I picked up the bird and, after returning 
to the harbour mouth, embarked in a small flat-bottomed boat in which I had been accustomed to explore 
the shallow creeks of the Nook, and took the flood-tide up the river shortly after midday. After leaving 
the water it was a long tramp across the marshes ; but taking advantage of one or two inviting slades, a few 
couple of Snipe were bagged, and the shots eventually attracted the man of whom I Avas in search. Much 
surprised at the sight of his SmcAV, Avhich he fully believed had carried off the charge, his thanks were 
profuse ; and in return I enjoyed many a good day’s sport at the long-bills Avhen in the district, some of 
the slades and creeks in this locality being about the most attractive feeding-grounds and harbour for Snipe 
that have come under my observation. 
During the severe Aveather succeeding the terrible gale of the 17th of January, 1881, I noticed several 
SmcAvs in immature plumage in the Channel off Shoreham, Lancing, and Worthing ; on the 22nd and 28th 
