MATE CHOICE BY FEMALES OF THE SWALLOW HIRUNDO-RUSTICA - IS IT REPEATABLE

If female choice is an important component of sexual selection in a particular species, we should expect considerable inter-female differences in mate choices, and, consequently, significant repeatability of ornamental traits of subsequently chosen partners. This paper examines whether or not a female's choice of mate tail lengths and, for comparison, her choice of mate wing lengths, is repeatable between breeding seasons in a field population of the swallow Hirundo rustica. The estimated values of repeatability were not significantly different from zero in either case, 0.152 +/- 0.231(SE) and 0.241 +/- 0.184, respectively. Possible explanations for this observation are discussed.