244 WARFARE BETWEEN DIFFERENT SPECIES 



in rearing one, if not two broods, yet the 

 number of pairs never exceeded five — the first 

 year there were three ; the second year five ; 

 and the third year four. 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. If we 

 allow three young to each pair — and this would 

 take no account of second broods — we arrive at 

 the following result, namely, that one hundred 

 and five young and seventy adults had to be 

 supplied with food from that locality, which 

 would mean, if the search for food were strictly 

 limited to that meadow, that 83 square yards 

 would be allotted to each individual. 



Suppose now that the four male Reed- 

 Buntings had each admitted one other male, 

 and that they had secured mates, what would 

 have been the effect upon the whole community ? 

 The four additional pairs with their young 

 would have represented twenty individuals, 

 which would have represented a decrease of 



