AMOUNT CONSUMED VARIES AS A FUNCTION OF FEEDER DESIGN

Abstract

Studies of pigeon behavior in which magazine‐cycle duration is varied suggest that many researchers assume that feeders of different designs dispense food at roughly the same rate. However, Epstein (1981) showed that, with a commonly used feeder, the amount of grain a pigeon consumes is a negatively accelerated function of magazine‐cycle duration. The present experiment shows that, with a different commonly used feeder, amount consumed is roughly a linear function of magazine‐cycle duration. At a duration of 60 seconds, the second feeder dispenses roughly 10 times as much food as the first. Thus, reports of studies in which magazine‐cycle duration is varied should identify the design of the feeder employed, and in some cases, authors should consider determining the feeding functions for those feeders.