SMEW.
This species, the Mergus albellus of systematists, is not only the smallest of the Mergansers, but by far the least common in British waters. Its visits are chiefly confined to the eastern coast line of England and Scotland and the south coast of England. Even in these areas adult males—from their strongly-contrasted black-and-white plumage locally known as “Nuns”—are much more rarely met with than females and young birds, called by the gunners of the east coast “Red-headed Smews.” Unfortunately, the male Smew is a bird that does not approach the coast much, and the female, from her duller colouration and small size, is readily overlooked. Lastly, it is the least maritime of the family. The male Smee or Smew, in nuptial plumage, is black and white—some of the former colour displayed in curious crescentic markings on the shoulders and in front of the wings, the elongated crest is pearly white, emphasised by greenish black, and the flanks are finely vermiculated with gray. The female has the head reddish-brown. During winter the Smew is gregarious, living in flocks of thirty or forty individuals, mostly immature. It prefers the more open water at some distance from shore, seeking to evade pursuit by swimming, but, if fired at, diving at once and reappearing far out of danger. When feeding most of the birds dive at once, rising in scattered order, but soon bunching together as each bird swims to a central rallying point. The Smew does not visit the land much, and even sleeps upon the water. It is a most accomplished diver, descending to great depths, and using its wings to assist it through the water, which it traverses with as much ease as a Cormorant or an Auk. Upon our coasts its food consists principally of small fishes and crustaceans. Its note is a harsh kurr, but at its breeding grounds it is said to utter a bell-like call, hence in Northern Asia it has been called the “Bell Duck.”
The Smew breeds in the forest swamps of the Arctic regions, making its nest in a hollow fallen log, or in a hole in a tree or stump. The eggs are laid upon the powdered wood, but are eventually surrounded with a quantity of down from the body of the parent. The seven or eight eggs, creamy-white in colour, are laid late in June or early in July. The ducklings are said to be conveyed to the water by the female in her bill.