RARE BIRDS KILLED IN THE WINTER OF 1837-8. 
413 
European species, and Hooper Swans. I observed no other Anatidce whose 
numbers were materially affected. 
Mr. Hoy informs me that a beautiful male Hooded Merganser ( Merc/us cuculla - 
his\ in thoroughly mature plumage, has been "secured in the county of Norfolk ; 
being the first known instance of this bird occurring in its adult garb in Britain. 
It is indeed remarkable that very nearly all the Mergansers, of each species, were 
old birds in their final livery; the younger individuals having been driven further 
southward. This was especially remarkable in the instance of the female Smew, 
adult specimens of which are of rare occurrence in collections; those obtained in 
ordinary seasons being almost without exception the young of the year, of which 
the plumage is exactly similar to that of the young male : in the mature females 
the sides of the face are black, as in the male, and the markings of the wings 
much purer and better contrasted ; many such specimens appeared in the markets 
during the severe vreather, and when the frost broke up, and the communication 
with the low countries was renewed, I saw a heap of Swans, from Holland, con¬ 
taining many females, all of which exhibited this handsome state of plumage. 
The adult male of the Smew Merganser may be procured, every winter, more 
or less plentifully in the London markets; and the reason that only the young 
of the other sex is commonly obtained, becomes obvious on consideration. A 
bird very like the female Smew is the same sex of the Common Garrot (Clangula 
vulgaris) ; and the London reader may repair to St. James’s Park, and observe 
how r very conspicuous is the brilliantly wdiite plumage of the male Smew at a 
considerable distance, in comparison wdth the dark sober livery of the female 
Garrot. Now birds, as they advance in age, are taught by increasing experience 
to become more wary ; and accordingly the mature Smews, more vigilant than 
the young, do not generally suffer an approach near enough to render the female 
readily discoverable; besides which, if the gunner should succeed in stealing 
within shot, the adult birds being commonly in pairs, the beautiful male is sure 
to attract his attention, to the exclusion of its mate. To judge, however, from 
the broken necks* of some of those which are brought to market, it wmuld appear . 
that this species is occasionally taken in the decoys ; but here, again, the majority 
of the birds so taken are the young of the year. 
It should be remarked, that the livery in which both sexes of the different 
Mergansers appear during their first winter, is not that which immediately 
succeeds the down; for I have obtained specimens early in the season, incom¬ 
pletely moulted, in which a few of their first feathers w T ere consequently 
observable, indicating that the tertiaries at least, if not all the upper parts, had 
* This would be a sufficient proof of their being decoyed birds, if there are no marks of shot in 
the body.—En. 
3 T 
VOL. III.—NO. XXIII. 
