The nestling which is figured by Mr. Dresser in his
‘ Birds of Europe ’ is described, from specimens obtained at
Kimschenk, Russia, on the 18th June as :
Upper parts, including the sides of the head below the
eye, hut only the back of the neck, dark blackish-brown,
darkest on the crown and the lower part of the back; at the
base of the wing-joint a white spot, and another close to it,
but rather lower down the hack, and on each side of the rump
another white spot; below the eye a very small white spot;
under parts white; breast and flanks pale greyish- or sooty-
brown. One young bird, which can only be two or three
days old, has the bill so slightly serrated that the serrations
can only be seen when very closely looked into ; but another,
which is a few days older, has the serrations very distinct.
A portion of the trachea of the male Smew is represented
below on the left hand. The figure on the right is from the
lower portion of the windpipe of the female.
HOODED MERGANSER, 509
A NSERES. ANA TIDJL
M e r g u s c u c u l la tu s , Linnaeus.*
THE HOODED MERGANSER.
Mergus cucullatus.
W e are indebted to Selby for the first notice of the
Hooded Merganser as a straggler to Britain; the skin of a
female bird said to have been obtained at Yarmouth, in Norfolk,
during the winter of 1829, having been sent to Selby by
Mr. Elton, of Redland, Bristol. The occurrence was recorded
in the Transactions of the Natural History of Northumberland,
Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, vol. i. p. 292, and also
in the third volume of the Edinburgh Journal of Natural and
Geographical Science, page 238, by Selby, who was informed
that other instances of the capture of birds of this species had
occurred. A note by Prof. Newton in the * Transactions
of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ Society,’ ii. p. 408,
tends, however, to cast a doubt upon the supposition that this
example was really killed in British waters. The late Mr.
* Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 207 (1766)