| Abstract: | The Common Birds Census of the British Trust for Ornithology provides extensive data from which it is possible to attempt to explain some aspects of the population dynamics of common bird species. Such data are examined here. A consistent, striking feature of the data is noted when a second order model is fitted to estimated numbers of territory-holding birds in successive years. Alternative approaches to explaining the observed nature of the data are presented, including the development of simple birth-death-maturation (-immigration) models. |
