( 1^8 ) 

 THE "BRITISH BIRDS" MARKING SCHEME. 



PROGRESS FOR 1911 AND SOME RESULTS 



BY 



H. F. WITHERS Y. 



Once again I am able to report decided progress in the 

 work of our enthusiastic band of " ringers." The 

 number of birds marked has steadily increased until this 

 year the splendid total of just nine thousand five hundred 

 has been reached. In the first year of the inquiry only 

 2,200 rings were used, but in the next year 7,900 were 

 placed, so that the number of birds " ringed " by the 

 readers of British Birds now amounts to nearly twenty 

 thousand. 



To the total for the year, as will be seen in the list 

 printed below, Mr. H. W. Robinson has contributed the 

 largest number, namely, seventeen hundred and fifty, 

 while Mr. F. Smalley has done six hundred and eighty-one, 

 so putting their figures together, to compare with last 

 year, these gentlemen have " ringed " nearly two thousand 

 five hundred birds between them, a remarkable number. 

 Mr. N. H. Joy is not far behind with one thousand and 

 sixty-six, Mr. R. O. Blyth reaches over four hundred, 

 and Messrs. A. G. Leigh, J. Bartholomew and J. R. B. 

 Masefield have each three hundred or over. Quite a 

 number of " ringers " exceed two hundred, while without 

 the long list of those coming under that figure our total 

 would have been found wanting. 



This splendid total is due not onl}' to the unabated 

 zeal of our " ringers," but also to the generosity of those 

 who have come forward with financial support towards 

 the expenses of the scheme. As these expenses naturally 

 grow with the increase in the number of rings issued, 

 I may here take the opportunity of reminding those who 

 are desirous of seeing the inquiry carried on, that sub- 

 scriptions, however smaU, are very welcome. 



That the inquiry will eventually prove scientifically 

 useful can, I think, no longer be doubted, but it is equally 

 certain that it must be continued for some years before 



