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Size of Breeding Colony Related to Attraction of Mates in a Tropical Passerine Bird
Author(s) -
Collias Nicholas E.,
Collias Elsie C.
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1933904
Subject(s) - passerine , polygyny , nest (protein structural motif) , biology , ecology , seasonal breeder , range (aeronautics) , limiting , zoology , demography , population , mechanical engineering , biochemistry , materials science , sociology , engineering , composite material
Field observations and counts of nests and birds present were made for 18 colonies of the Village Weaverbird, Ploceus (Textor) cucullatus, in north—west Senegal during the breeding season of 1967. In this gregarious and polygynous species, the male weaves the nest and then endeavors to attract the female to the nest by means of special displays and vocalizations. Breeding colonies with fewer than 10 males had a much smaller proportion of females resident in the colony at or near the peak of colony growth than did larger colonies (chi—square test, P = .018). The species is near the northern border of its range near the Sahara in this region and presence or absence of sufficiently large trees is at times a crucial factor limiting local distribution of colonies. Although large trees in general tend to have larger colonies than do small trees, success of a colony in attracting females was correlated much more with number of males and nests than with size of tree. It is concluded that the evolution of gregarious breeding in this species was in part due to the increased efficiency of attracting mates that results from colony life.