The Effect of Experience and Novelty on Avian Feeding Behavior with Reference to the Evolution of Warning Coloration in Butterflies. II. Reactions of Naive Birds to Novel Insects

Abstract

This paper confirms the findings of the previous study (Coppinger 1969) that novel stimuli often fail to elicit an attack response from avian predators. In this experiment, hand-raised birds avoided novel insects in a manner which showed that the rejection was not learned or innate. The rejection suggests a relationship between the amount of stimulus change and the previous experience of the animal. The experiments further suggest that there need not be an association with noxiousness ia order for conspicuous coloration to be a selective advantage. The implications of these findings are discussed as they apply to the evolution of warning coloration.