248 
MERGUS ALBELLUS. 
form as that of the male, but less, and of a reddish 
brown ; marked round the area of the eyes with dusky; 
cheeks, fore part of the neck, and belly, white ; round 
the middle of the neck, a collar of pale brown ; breast 
and shoulders, dull brown and whitish intermixed: 
wing's and back, marked like those of the male, but of 
a deep brownish ash in those ])arts which in him are 
black; legs and feet, ])ale blue. The young birds, as 
in the other three species, strongly resemble the female 
during the first .and part of the .second year. A.s these 
changes of colour, from the garb of the female to that 
of the male, take place in the remote regions of the 
north, vvo have not the opportunity of detecting them 
in their gradual progress to full plumage. Hence, as 
both males and females have been found in the same 
dress, some writers have considered them as a separate 
species from the smew, and have given to them the 
title of the red-headed smew. 
In the ponds of New England, and some of the lakes 
in the State of New York, where the smew is frequently 
observed, these red-headed kind are often found in 
company, and more uumerotis than the otlier, for very 
obvious reasons, and bear, in the markings, though not 
in the colours, of their plumage, evident proof of their 
being the same species, but younger birds or females. 
The male, like the Muscovy drake, and many others, 
when arrived at his full size, is ne.arly one-third heavier 
than the female, and this disproportion of weight, and 
difference of colour, in the fnll-grouu males and 
females, are characteristic of the whole genus. 
