Correlation of song learning and territory establishment strategiesin the song sparrow

In a field study, we show that a young song sparrow (i) selects his songs from three or four older birds who have neighboring territories, (ii) preferentially learns song types that these tutor neighbors share, and (ui) ultimately sets up his territory next to, or replaces, one of these tutor neighbors.

MICHaeL D. BEECHER, S. ELIZABETH CAMPBELL, AND PHILIP K. STODDARD, Proc. Nati. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 91, pp. 1450-1454, Feb 1994