Date of Award

7-1963

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Biological Sciences

First Advisor

Dr. Thane S. Robinson

Second Advisor

Dr. Richard Brewer

Third Advisor

Frank J. Hinds

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

Introduction

Many observations have been made on the behavior in the field of the bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) and of other gallinaceous birds. Stoddard (1950) has described in some detail various aspects of bobwhite behavior. Stokes (1963) conducted a laboratory study on the agonistic and sexual behavior of the chukar partridge. No behavioral studies, to the writer's knowledge, however, have been conducted on bobwhites under controlled environmental conditions. The birds used in the present study were housed in individual cages and were arranged in an artificially fixed aggregation (Fig. 1). The birds were maintained in this condition through the experimental period and for a length of 13 months prior to it (Robinson, 1963a; 1963b). The writer's study dealt with (1) pacing and resting behavior, (2) leadership tendencies, and (3) the behavior of individuals which had been shifted from their fixed position in the aggregation to a new position. Data on pacing and resting behavior and on leadership tendencies were gathered under both breeding and non-breeding conditions. Data on the behavior of birds which had been moved to a new position, however, were obtained only when the birds were in breeding condition.

Download

Included in

Biology Commons

Share

COinS