Eggs of a Female Japanese Quail Are More Likely to Be Fertilized by a Male That She Prefers

Male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) that conspecific females preferred in a 10-min, forced-choice test of affiliative preference were more likely than were males not preferred in such a test to fertilize females' eggs when subsequently mated with them, although preferred and nonpreferred males mated equally often with females. Further, the probability that a nonpreferred male would fertilize a female's eggs was significantly increased if she watched while he courted and mated with another female. The results indicate that in Japanese quail (a) affiliative preference reliably predicts females' choices of fathers for their offspring and (b) females may have some degree of control over whether the males with whom they mate actually fertilize their eggs.