Preening and Associated Comfort Behavior in Birds a

In most avian species the plumage also has an important extra function compared with the pelage of mammals: flight. Accordingly preening, as a behavior that conditions the bird's integument, can be expected to play a more important role within the activity repertoire of birds than grooming does in that of mammals. Indeed preening is generally a very elaborate behavior that takes up a considerable proportion of the time budget of birds. For example, van Rhijn 2 has impressively documented the complexity of the preening behavior of gulls, and I have found that during the breeding season and at daytime 150/0 of their time was taken up by this activity.3 During moonlit nights (unpublished observations) the preening took up almost as much of the gulls' time (12%). Pigeons interrupt sleeping in complete darkness virtually only to preen"; gulls can be expected to do likewise. Although preening is such a frequent behavior among birds, our knowledge about it is still sparse and disconnected. To give this brief review the wisp of a plot, it takes the form of a somewhat personal narrative. Besides preening proper (drawing feathers through the beak), a number of other comfort patterns that are more or less closely related to preening, either motivationally or functionally, will be mentioned. The reader should realize that there are several other behaviors of this kind that, though obvi­ ously important to birds, I will not refer to. As a striking, rather exotic example, one can mention anting, or bathing in a heap of ants, an activity many bird species seem to love!

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