Sex differences in the behaviour and measurements of corncrakes crex crex in scotland

Abstract

Radio-tagged Corncrakes which incubated clutches and/or accompanied broods of chicks were not observed to sing. Birds which sang did not give parental care. Dissection of two birds which had been radio-tracked indicated that the first group were females and the second group were males. This confirmed previous indications that, in the wild, only females care for the eggs and young and only males sing. The length of the head and bill and the maximum chord wing length were both greater in males than females. A linear discriminant function including these two measurements sexed 96% of birds correctly. Functions fitted separately to data from each of two study areas sexed 93% of birds correctly when applied to birds from the other area. © 1996 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.