Food delivery and food holding during copulation in the Loggerhead Shrike

摘要

Copulation in mated birds sometimes is accompanied by a ritual, including the delivery of food from one member of a pair to the other (e.g., Lack 1940, Calder 1967, Tasker and Mills 1981). Observed copulations in the Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) appear to share the common element of food delivery by the male prior to his mounting the female. The retention of the food by the female during copulation has also been reported. Here, I summarize behaviors associated with six copulation events I observed by Loggerhead Shrikes during 1991 through 1993, and I suggest one possible interpretation of precopulatory food delivery and the subsequent holding of the food during copulation in this species.