File:Birds in their haunts, by the late C. A. Johns (1909) (14750057134).jpg

Identifier: cu31924001243561 (find matches)
Title: Birds in their haunts, by the late C. A. Johns
Year: 1909 (1900s)
Authors: Johns, C. A. (Charles Alexander), 1811-1874 Visger, Jean Allan (Pinder) Owen, 1841-
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: London, G. Routledge New York, E. P. Dutton

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rapid, but differs somewhat from that of the Ducks,the neck being not stretched out to its full length, but slightly foldedback. After the young are hatched the male deserts the female andleaves her to bring off her brood without assistance. THE SMEW MERGUS ALBELLUS Crest, neck, scapulars, smaller wing-coverts, and all the under parts white;cheeks and back of the head greenish black ; two crescent-shaped marksadvancing from the shoulders on each side to the breast black ; tail ashcoloured ; bill and feet bluish grey, the membranes black ; irides brown.Length seventeen inches. Female smaller ; head and cheeks reddishbrown ; under parts white, clouded on the breast, flanks, and rump, withash-grey; upper plumage and tail greyish black; wings variegatedwith black, white, and grey. Eggs whitish. The birds of this genus, though placed among the Anatidae, or Ducktribe, are so strongly marked by the conformation of the bill thata simple examination of the head alone wUl enable the student to
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Merganser (?Goosander 3 Smew<? 2Dabchick 2 <? (.face p. eon. THE WOOD-PIGEON OR RtNG DOVE 203 distinguish either of the species from the trueDucks already described.On the coast of Norfolk the popular name Smee Duck includesseveral kinds of Ducks, and I presimie the present species ; but thebill, in the form of an elongated and almost cylindrical cone, withthe edges of both mandibles furnished with saw-like teeth pointedbackwards, cannot faU to distinguish the genus Mergus. The Smew, or Smee, properly so called, is a winter visitor with us,more impatient of cold than the Duck-tribe generally, and conse-quently frequenting the southern more than the northern parts ofthe island. In open weather it resorts to oiu rivers and fresh-waterlakes, where it feeds on small fish and other aquatic animals, whichit obtains by diving. In severe frosts it either flies farther southor repairs to tidal rivers and harbours. Though not a rare bird, itis sparingly distributed. It is found on many of

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