Song and territory in the Great tit Parus major

Abstract

It is common knowledge that bird song has one or both of two functions: territorial advertisement and mate attraction (Thorpe, 1961; Armstrong, 1973). However, beyond the simple correlation between the seasonal peak of singing and territorial or reproductive activity, there is remarkably little direct evidence for either proposed function of song. Here I am concerned with the role of song in territorial behaviour in the Great tit (Parus major). The spring peak of singing coincides with the establishment of a territory, which occurs after pairing in the Great tit (Hinde, 1952; Krebs, 1971), perhaps indicating that mate attraction is less important than territorial advertisement in this particular species. The question I attempt to answer is ‘Does song act as a signal to keep intruders out of a territory?’. I also discuss how the organisation of song might relate to territorial exclusion.

After completing a degree in zoology at Oxford John Krebs joined the Animal Behaviour Research Group for postgraduate work on the role of territory in the population ecology of Great tits in Wytham Wood. He then spent a year as Demonstrator in the Edward Grey Institute and three years as an Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, where he worked mainly on herons. He is now back at Oxford, in the Edward Grey Institute studying bird song and foraging behaviour.