short that but few opportunities of observing it a afforded us. |
trust that the following extract from Mr. Wolley’s allel paper a oy ny ae a
Mr. Wolley, after having ascertained that the native names of the mew ae i ? ‘ a " ng'ilo
and Ujnilo, states that “In 1857 the clergyman of Muonioniska, aoe : ue add i ae “a to
Sodankyla; and in the spring of this year, an intelligent young man, a ee wen ; assistant
I gave Carl strict charge to make evely ne for Uinilo in that part of the world,
On the 30th of July, 1857, as I passed by the homestead of Regina’s
there was given to me a wooden box, such as is used in the

but the time it spends with us 1s so

to his former teacher.
and of travellers from Kemi Trask.
Calle, the famous steerer of the Muonio Falls,
country for carrying butter on a journey, zl
vaara. The box was not tied or secured in any way; |
of which the following is an exact translation :—‘ Matthias Lakso of

ssed, ‘To the English gentleman Joh Woleg in Muonio-
and on the lid being opened there first appeared
a well-written Finnish letter, of parts ae
Made-koski-kyla, on the Kitinen-joki, five Swedish miles from Sodankyla, ee found on the Liesi-joki eggs of
Uinilo, and has brought to me three. . . . They were found on ae 8th day of the Summersmonay [June] 1857.
Of an old birch trunk the wood was rotted away, and it was left hollow, forming A hole in which they were.
There were two men in company, and the other man has given four eggs to the priest; there were seven of

them, but there was no down brought. The Uinilo was also killed, and with the eggs it too is sent.—Carn

Leppaservi. First day of the Hay-month [July] 1857.’

“The next thing in the box that struck my eye was a stiff-necked skin of a female Smew, with hatching-
spots on the under side; then five or six eggs of other birds; and lastly, oe vip tow, were bes
three Smew’s. The eggs rather staggered me at first sight, they were so like Widgeons’. On comparing
them with a series of something like fifty Widgeons’ eggs, I found they were nearly of the same size, though
rather below the average ; they were more flattened at the smaller end, and had less of the yellowish tinge
about them: so that a person not much used to eggs could distinguish them. It was not long before I
perceived that there was also a decided difference of texture. This could be perceived on an ordinary
examination, but it became very striking on exposing the egg to direct sunshine and examining the
penumbra, or space between full light and full shadow, with a magnifying-glass ; the sharp ‘ mountainous’
structure of the Widgeon’s egg was strongly contrasted with the lower and more rounded character of
the elevations in the Smew’s. The ivory-like texture of the Goosander’s egg was a_ pretty parallel to
the character of that of the Smew.”

Mr. Wolley adds, “I have seen a MS. list of birds from the German naturalist Herr Hoffmansegg, then
resident at Archangel, from which it appears that Mergus albellus occurs in that neighbourhood, which is
considerably more southerly than Muonioniska or Sodankyla. As I did not hear of it on the north or north-
east coast of Norway, and as it is not known to breed in Sweden, I should be inclined to suppose it to be
generally an eastern and northern bird. It is worthy of note that the very pale colour of the down of the
Smew seems to be connected with its choosing holes for breeding. No bird of the Duck kind that has white
down, as far as I know, places its eggs in an exposed situation.”

These very rare eggs, together with the whole of Mr. Wolley’s collections, were bequeathed to and are
now in the possession of Alfred Newton, Esq., of Elveden Hall, near Thetford, in Norfolk, a gentleman in every
way worthy of such a valuable gift, since few persons possess a more intimate acquaintance, not only with
our native birds, but with those of Europe generally.

The food of the Smew consists of fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and aquatic insects of various kinds. — Its
powers of swimming and diving are most perfect, even more so than those of flight, though these, as may be
readily conceived from the extent of its migrations, are by no means inconsiderable.

The general hue of the male is pure white, relieved by an oval patch of greenish-black at the base of the
bill, a broad stripe of the same colour on each side of the head, and two narrow crescentic marks of black
on each side of the chest; the centre of the back is also black; the rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail
ashy grey; the lesser wing-coverts and scapularies white, the latter edged with black; greater coverts and
secondaries black, tipped with white, forming two narrow white bands; primaries brownish black; tertials
ashy grey, those nearest the body being the darkest ; flanks grey, crossed by narrow irregular lines of dark
brown; bill greenish lead-colour ; nail horn-colour ; irides reddish brown ; legs, toes, and webs leaden grey.

The female, which is smaller than the male, has the head rusty red; chin white ; upper and breast surface
grey; under surface white.

Dye 5 "Ac : ape 3
The Plate represents two males rather less than the natural size, and a female in the distance, much reduced.