158 Notes and Comments. 
ARE OUR SUMMER BIRDS DECREASING ? 
An inquiry was instituted last year by the Editor of British 
Birds to ascertain whether our Swallows and Warblers are 
decreasing. From this year’s recorded observations it seems 
certain that a marked and general decrease of Swallows and 
Martins has been going on for some time, and that the Shrike, 
Whinchat, Redstart, and Wryneck are probably decreasing. 
On the other hand the Nightingale and most of the Warblers 
are holding their own and some are even increasing. 
BIRD NOMENCLATURE. 
An interesting correspondence has recently taken place 
in the natural history column of the Yorkshire Weekly Post, 
in which several prominent Yorkshire ornithologists have 
taken part, on the vexed question of Bird Nomenclature. One 
or two important points have been rasied by our contributor, 
Mr. Riley Fortune, which we are glad to quote :— The ever- 
lasting creation of sub-species is causing a great deal of useless 
and senseless slaughter among even common birds. Many 
of these birds were left alone by collectors, but it is now neces- 
sary for them to fire into the midst of every flock of small birds 
in order to see if they cannot find a few sub-species among them, 
or, what is more important, if they are lucky to find one with 
a different spot on it, or a feather a trifle longer, or the colour 
a shade or so darker than the generally accepted type, then 
they can be made supremely happy by being able to create 
and name a fresh sub-species ! 
WILLOW TIT OR MARSH TIT. 
Unfortunately many of them find great difficulty in recog- 
nising these sub-species, for we generally read, in the record, 
that the bird has had to be sent to Tring for the High Priest 
of this cult to determine whether it is a good record or not. 
Then, again, the creation of the new species is proceeded with 
in the flimsiest manner. Take the willow tit. It is practically 
impossible to separate this bird from the marsh tit when alive 
and active, and in order to discover whether the willow tit 
may or may not be numbered among the avian members of a 
county, it 1s necessary to shoot numbers of harmless marsh 
tits in the hope that one of them may possess the characteristic 
points of the willow tit, the habits and general appearance of 
the two being precisely alike. 
THE NEW NOMENCLATURE. 
The proposed new nomenclature is hopeless and ridiculous. 
The type form of the common wren is now to be called (if 
these people have their way), in scientific language, Tvoglodytes 
troglodytes troglodytes; the hawfinch Coccothraustes coccoth- 
Naturalist. 
