Measurement of Nest Attentiveness in the Ring-Necked Pheasant

Abstract

FOR many years investigators have been concerned with the attentive behavior of birds during the incubation period. Several studies have been conducted to determine the amount of time birds spend incubating, the number of times off the nest, feeding times, etc. These have been summarized by Kendeigh (1952). Most of them have involved nongallinaceous birds, but there are two notable exceptions. Fant (1952) studied the attentive behavior of the wild partridge (Perdrix p. perdrix) in England. He obtained records throughout the incubation periods of four hens and learned that during the egg-laying period the hen visited the nest only between 09:30 and 15:00, and that the average egg-laying time was 45 minutes. Absences from the nest during the incubation period varied from two to five periods per day, the earliest absence being at 07:30, and the latest at 21:15. The duration of each daily period of absence varied from 15 to 155 minutes. Fant also found that the greater the number of times the hen left the nest per day the shorter were the inattentive periods; the average duration of absences per day was 140 minutes. Klonglin et al. (1956) recorded the nesting activity of pheasants by means of an instrument similar to that used by Fant. They gathered data on the attentive behavior of pheasants with clutches incubated more than 10 days. They noted that the hens left their nest once each day; the inattentive period varied from eight to 115 minutes and averaged about 30 minutes in length. The majority of the inattentive periods occurred between 15:00 and 18:00. Inattentive periods in the morning were inconsistently taken, but, when taken, they were between 07:00 and 10:00. Nearly all recorded instances of egg laying occurred between 10:00 and 15:00.