The palatability of the eggs of birds: illustrated by experiments on the food preferences of the Hedgehog ( Erinaceus europaeus).

• Published in: Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London
• Main Author: COTT, HUGH B.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1951
• Subjects: Alca torda; Razorbill
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1951.tb00726.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1096-3642.1951.tb00726.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1951.tb00726.x; https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1951.tb00726.x

SUMMARY. The paper describes the results of an investigation of the relative acceptability of the eggs of twenty‐five species of birds, belonging to ten orders, as illustrated by the feeding preferences of the Hedgehog ( Erinaceus europaeus ). In each of 332 experiments, one of four animals used as tasters was presented with a choice as between two egg‐samples. Possible disturbing factors such as differences in egg‐size or shell‐coloration, and those due to spatial arrangement of the samples, were eliminated by the use of raw egg, offered in equal quantities, and by the successive reversal in position of the egg‐species matched within a particular group of experiments, or as offered to a particular experimental animal. The reliability of the experimental method and the degree of consistency of hedgehog discrimination was checked by repetition experiments (between the same species‐pair), both for the same and for different individuals; and by linking and overlapping experiments (between pairs of egg‐species more or less widely separated in the edibility series). In general, the results show the hedgehog to be sensitive to differences in the relative palatability of the eggs offered, and to be consistent in its preferences and aversions, which show a broad agreement with those of man for the egg‐species considered. Separate experimental results are tabulated; the evidential value of the groups of experiments is discussed; and the edibility status of the several species considered. The experiments, which fall into groups carried out with sixty species‐pairs. afford a basis for the arrangement of the several species in a provisional hierarchy of preference: to each has been assigned a numerical edibility rating. The species fall broadly into three grades–here shown in descending order of acceptability–as follows: ( a ) Palatable. –Kittiwake ( Rissa t. tridactyla ), Eider ( Somateria m. mollissima ), Razorbill ( Alca torda britannica ), Gannet ( Sula bassana ), Domestic Fowl ( Gallus gallus ). Lapwing ( Vanellus ...