Abstract
ALLOPREENING, that is, the habit of preening a neighbouring individual's feathers, is characteristic of many gregarious species of birds. Recent work on the Estrildine finch, the red avadavat (Amandava amandava), has shown that the amount of mutual grooming does not vary with the presence of peripheral dirt on the regions to which most of the allopreening is restricted, that is, the head. It thus seems likely that allopreening is more than simple co-operation in toilet behaviour between individuals which cannot effectively clean or arrange the feathers on their own heads as suggested by Morris1.
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References
Morris, D., Behaviour, 7, 33 (1956).
Zuckerman, S., The Social Life of Monkeys and Apes (Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, London, 1932).
Sparks, J. H., Birds Illustrated, 8, 48 (1962).
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SPARKS, J. Significance of Allopreening in the Red Avadavat and its Development in Other Birds. Nature 200, 281 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1038/200281a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/200281a0
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