Song-learning strategies in the Bengalese finch: do chicks choose tutors based on song complexity?

Birdsong is an important sexually selected trait, and its acoustic features are socially transmitted in the process of song learning. The preference of some female songbirds for song complexity as measured by repertoire size has driven the evolution of many song traits and song-learning programs in males. If juvenile birds adopt the attractiveness of model birds by copying their repertoires, tutor choice in the early song-learning period should be crucial for future reproductive success. Thus, we hypothesized that the song quality of tutors influences the tutor choice of chicks in the Bengalese finch, Lonchura striata var. domestica. Each subject chick was reared by a foster pair in an individual breeding cage. At around the fledging period, we introduced another unrelated adult male (subtutor) into each cage to simulate the natural social environment in which chicks have opportunities to hear the songs of nonfather males after fledging. Subject chicks learned from both tutors when the total note repertoire size of the two models was small; they tended to learn from the subtutor when the father had a smaller note repertoire size. The acquired note repertoire size was not affected by whether subjects learned songs from the foster father or not. Song learning from the subtutor contributed to a larger note repertoire. Observed patterns in tutor choice, in particular song learning from a subtutor, could be an adaptive strategy that helps chicks compensate for exposure to smaller repertoire size in models. (C) 2009 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.