110 TEE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



A VES. 



Status of Blackcap and Garden-Warbler. — With regard to the 

 correspondence on this subject, I can state that here, a few miles 

 west of Lincoln, in my experience, the Garden-Warbler is far com- 

 moner than the Blackcap. I have frequently noted the fact. — F. L. 

 Blathwayt (Doddington Bectory, Lincoln). 



Status of Lesser Whitethroat. — Beferring to Mr. Gill's remarks 

 (ante, p. 36) regarding the status of the Lesser Whitethroat, I quite 

 agree that the distribution of this species as given in most ornitho- 

 logical works is very imperfectly mapped out ; this, no doubt, is 

 owing to its having been confused with two or three other species of 

 Warblers. Gilbert White mentions a "rare, and I think a new, little 

 bird frequents my garden, which I have great reason to think is a 

 Bettychap. It is common in some parts of the kingdom. This bird 

 much resembles the Whitethroat, but has a more white or rather 

 silvery breast and belly, is restless and active, like the Willow- 

 Warbler, and hops from bough to bough, examining every part for 

 food ; it also runs up the stems of the crown-imperial, and putting 

 its head into the bells of the flowers, sips the liquor which stands in 

 the nectarium of each petal," which was evidently referable to this 

 species ; and it is quite obvious that much confusion existed in the 

 mind of the late A. G. More when he wrote his work on the distri- 

 bution of birds during the breeding season ; and in the Yorkshire 

 records by Thos. Allis, many of which are extremely doubtful. 

 This species appears to be less common and more restricted in its 

 distribution in the western than in the eastern half of England, but 

 even in the eastern counties it is very irregularly distributed, and the 

 same remarks would apply to Wales. It is said, however, to be fairly 

 common in some parts of Cheshire and also in Derbyshire, which 

 has not been my experience regarding its status in the latter county, 

 but my visits have been comparatively short, consequently my obser- 

 vations on that account may not be so valuable as more prolonged 

 sojourns would have been. My visits have been chiefly confined to the 



