124 
G. HOOPER-NOTES ON BIRDS 
family. They leave us in the autumn, when the supply of food 
fails. On the other hand, the birds which breed in foreign climes' 
—the woodcock, the fieldfare, the shrike, and others which seek 
our shores as winter approaches—are more properly immigrants. 
This disquisition, however, although congenial to our subject, 
is hardly within the province of my report, which is to record the 
appearance of such rare birds, or rather rare visitors, as during the 
past year have either come under my own observation, or whose 
appearance has been kindly communicated to me by members of 
the Society. To this record I have ventured to add, as I did last 
year, some notes on the personal history and peculiarities of each 
bird. The bitter winter we have lately experienced has made the 
list an exceptionally long one. 
The first bird on my list is the Smew (Mergus albellus). —Mr. 
G. J. Buller, of Welwyn, kindly informed me that a female smew 
was killed in that neighbourhood on the 10th of January.* Its 
appearance in Hertfordshire is a most rare occurrence. I doubt if 
it has ever been recorded before. The smew is a handsome black 
and white sea-bird, about two-thirds the size of a goose, and nearly 
related to the goosanders and mergansers. Its diet is entirely of 
fish, to enable it to catch which it is furnished with a long hooked 
hill with a formidable array of sharp teeth, directed backwards, so 
as to more securely hold its slippery prey. Like all fish-eaters, 
the bird is an accomplished diver. It is a winter visitant, and 
frequents the northern lakes. I have never seen this bird alive, 
but its cousin, the merganser (Mergus serrator ), was sent to me by 
the late Mr. Day some years since. I can hardly, however, be 
said to have seen it, for my cook, who was not an ornithologist, 
received it in my absence, and promptly dressed it for dinner. I 
only identified the bird after rescuing its head from the dust-heap. 
Both birds are coarse, strong, and unfit for food. 
The Goosander (Mergus merganser ), which, however, I only 
recognised by the description, is said to have been shot near St. 
Albans, but the description Mr. Lewis favoured me with at second 
hand leaves some doubt on the subject. The goosander is also a 
fish-eater, and furnished with the same long bill and sharp teeth as 
his congeners, the merganser and the smew. It is a beautiful bird, 
conspicuous by its red bill, and the blending of many colours in the 
plumage. Its length is about two feet. 
The Puffin (Alca arctica ).—I observed in the ‘Times’ that a 
bird of this species was picked up by Mr. Bolton, of Copped Hall, 
near Totteridge, during the frost. It was described as “in a very 
exhausted condition.” JSTo wonder, for it is a shorLwinged, 
bad-flying bird, and could not have tasted a morsel of food from 
the time it left the coast. Mr. Bolton seems to have done his best, 
as a charitable man would, to feed and revive the poor wanderer, 
hut it absolutely refused the dead fish which he offered it, probably 
because it was dead, and at the expiration of three or four days it 
died. As I said, the puffin is a had flyer, and a stay-at-home bird, 
* The winter records are all for the winter of 1890-91 .—Ed. 
