VOL. VI.] THE 1912 INQUIRY. 305 



increase " (Miss Acland), Farnham (Surrey), " an increase " 

 (A. R. Gillman) ; Stone (Staffs.), "decreasing" (P. C. 

 Button), Cheadle (Staffs.), "increasing" (J. R. B. 

 Masefield) ; Bloxham (Oxon.), " below the average " (0. V. 

 Aplin), Kingham (Oxon.), "rather above the average" 

 (W. Warde Fowler). 



A decided decrease is reported from Tenterden (Kent) 

 (N. F. Ticehurst), Tonbridge (Kent) (R. H. Rattray), and 

 Felsted (Essex) (J. H. Owen). Perhaps it may be said 

 that this species is holding its own better in the north than 

 in the east of England. 



Lesser Whitethroat {Sylvia c. curruca). 

 Increase 20. Decrease 17. Normal numbers 27. No returns 50. 



From the answers received to query 3, the Lesser White- 

 throat seems to have been present in average numbers in 

 1912. Some observers remark that they find this species 

 " hard to observe," so perhaps the absence of returns is in 

 some cases due to the fact that the bird has not been 

 recognised. Except in a few localities the Lesser Whitethi'oat 

 cannot be considered a common bird, and it is very local in 

 its distribution. It is always scarce in northern counties 

 and in the south-west, though it was common in the spring 

 of 1912 in the neighbourhood of Porlock (Somerset) ; and it 

 seems to have been scarce in Norfolk and Suffolk. 



Decided increases are reported from Hever (Kent), " an 

 increase and always increasing " (E. G. B. Meade- Waldo) ; 

 Oswestry (Salop), " well above the average " (J. H. Owen) ; 

 Felsted (Essex), " well above the average " (J. H. Owen) ; 

 Cheadle (Staffs.), "an increase, above the average" (J. R. 

 B. Masefield). Slight increases are rejDorted from Sln-ewsbury 

 (Salop), Pensford (Somerset), Culmstock (Devon.), and 

 Holderness, one of the few districts in Yorkshire where this 

 bird IS founa. 



A slight decrease is reported from Cambridge, " twenty- 

 one pairs 1911, eighteen pairs 1912 " (H. G. Alexander) ; and 

 a more marked one from Sunningdale (Berks.), " only seen 

 one, far below the average " (F. G. Clarke) ; and Down ton 

 (Wilts.), " four pairs 1911, one pair 1912 " (F. G. Penrose). 



In some cases we can set an increase in one locality against 

 a decrease in another, e.g. : Send (Surrey), " decrease " ; 

 Shere (Surrey), "increase"; New Forest (Hants.), "in- 

 crease," but the bird has not been seen this year at Beaulieu. 

 Mr. Mark Pybus writes that this bird nested this summer 

 near Warkworth in Northumberland 



