REPEATABILITY OF FEMALE CHOICE IN A MONOGAMOUS SWALLOW

Models of the evolution of female mate preferences often assume that there is a genetic basis for female choosiness, although there are few empirical tests of this assumption. One way in which to estimate consistency in female mate preferences is to calculate the repeatability of characters of males chosen by females on different mate choice occasions. Repeatability of female mate choice for morphological characters of males chosen in different years was estimated in the monogamous barn swallow, Hirundo rustica. There was no significant repeatability of mate preferences for the absolute size of male traits. However, females have different numbers of males and phenotype ranges available at different mate choice events. The rank of chosen male phenotypes demonstrated significant repeatability for the length of the outermost tail feather, but not for wing length, the length of the short central tail feather, or tarsus length. Consistency in female mate preferences could he due to genetic or environmental factors. © 1993 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.