Description
Black wheatears are small birds in Spain and Morocco. Males of the
species demonstrate an exaggerated sexual display by carrying many
heavy stones to nesting cavities. This 35--gram bird transports, on
average, 3.1 kg of stones per nesting season! Different males carry
somewhat different sized stones, prompting a study on whether larger
stones may be a signal of higher health status. Soler et
al. calculated the average stone mass (g) carried by each of 21 male
black wheatears, along with T-cell response measurements reflecting
their immune systems' strengths.encoding
latin1source
Ramsey, F.L. and Schafer, D.W. (2013). The Statistical Sleuth: A
Course in Methods of Data Analysis (3rd ed), Cengage Learning.References
Soler, M., Mart�n-Vivaldi, M., Mar�n J. and M�ller, A. (1999). Weight
lifting and health status in the black wheatears, Behavioral
Ecology 10(3): 281--286.