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In addition to the four pairs of Reed-Buntings, there were in the spring of 1915, six pairs of Whitethroats, one pair of Lesser Whitethroats, four pairs of Willow-Warblers, one pair of Sedge-Warblers, two pairs of Grasshopper-Warblers, one pair of Chiffchaffs, three pairs of Hedge-Sparrows, two pairs of Tree-Pipits, one pair of Skylarks, one pair of Whinchats, one pair of Flycatchers, two pairs of Song-Thrushes, one pair of Blackbirds, one pair of Redstarts, three pairs of Chaffinches, and one pair of Wrens in all, thirty-five pairs, whose young were mainly dependent for their living upon the insect life of that meadow and the ground immediately surrounding it.

Cow-birds wage war on the parasites of mules, donkeys, oxen, and sheep, hopping about the fields and dropping down on to their backs: they are never shot. Morocco is by no means short of bird life. Only that morning, as we rode along, we saw several pairs of whinchats, any number of crested larks, some plover, pied and grey wagtails, starlings, and a sand-martin.

Then we passed along the wild shore, and the linnets were singing and the whinchats were calling as ever, and the old mounds of the heroes of the bygone were awesome to me now as long ago, when I looked at them standing lonesome along the shore with only the wash of the waves to disturb them.

Turtle Doves pass over at a great height, or skim across a few feet above the gorse; Redstarts settle for a few minutes and then disappear; Tree-Pipits, Whinchats, and Willow-Warblers pass from tree to tree or flit from bush to bush and all in a north-easterly direction.

But they were not the sole occupants of this corner of the Common; other insectivorous species had territories there also amongst which were Whitethroats, Grasshopper-Warblers, Willow-Warblers, Whinchats, Stonechats, Meadow-Pipits, Tree-Pipits, and Skylarks.