Parental activities in relation to feeding of the hatchlings of house sparrow Passer domesticus, occurring in Kolkata, India.

摘要

Parental activities in relation to feeding of the hatchlings of the house sparrow, Passer domesticus, were noted in Kolkata, India, It was observed that a P. domesticus pair had to offer on average 2203.57+or-6.98 SE times food to the three hatchlings during the period of 11 hours (from 0558 hours to 1653 hours) of active period. The male spent 11.07+or-0.87 SE and the female spent 15.86+or-1.44 SE seconds for the collection of food in each occasion while they needed 8.36+or-0.36 and 9.5+or-0.81 seconds respectively to feed the same to the hatchlings. In most cases the female partner was seen to wait for the male partner outside the nest prior to feeding the hatchlings. This habit seems to be related with the nest guarding strategy of P. domesticus.