SMEW. 
137 
and belly, white, marked on the upper and lower part of the breast 
with a curving line of black; back black; scapulars white, cross- 
ed with several faint dusky bars ; shoulder of the wing and prima- 
I'ies black, secondaries and greater coverts black broadly tipt with 
white ; across the lesser coverts a large band of \vhite ; sides and 
flanks crossed with waving lines ; tail dark ash ; legs and feet pale 
bluish slate. 
The female is considerably less than the male ; the bill a dark 
lead color; crest of the same peculiar form as that of the male, but 
less, and of a i^eddish brown ; marked round the area of the eyes 
with dusky ; cheeks, forepart of the neck, and belly, white ; round 
the middle of the neck a collar of pale brown ; breast and shoul- 
ders dull brown and whitish intermixed ; wings and back marked 
like those of the male, but of a deep brownish ash in those parts 
which in him are black ; legs and feet pale blue. The young 
birds, as in the other three species, strongly resemble the female 
during the first and part of the second year. As these changes of 
color, from the garb of the female to that of the male, take place 
in the remote regions of the north, we 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 
Sinew, 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 numerous 
than the other, for very obvious reasons ; and bear, in the mark- 
ings, though not in the colors, of their plumage, evident proof of 
their being the same species, but younger birds or females. 1 he 
male, like the Muscovy Drake, and many others, when arrived at 
his full size, is nearly one third heavier than the female ; and this 
disproportion of weight, and difference of color, in the full grown 
males and females, are characteristic of the whole genus. 
2 M 
VOL. VIII. 
