Function of courtship feeding in the Bull-headed Shrike,Lanius bucephalus

We investigated the frequency of courtship feeding (CF) in the Bull-headed Shrike (Lanius bucephalus) during the 1981–1982 breeding seasons. Because no CF was observed just prior to, during or just after copulation, CF is not associated directly with copulation and does not function as a releaser for copulation. The absence of CF during the pair-formation period of the early breeder and the high frequency of CF behavior in the cold season and in the critical breeding stages (egg-laying and incubation stages) for females strongly suggests that the significance of CF in this species is not symbolic but substantial at least in early breeders. We assign one of the causes of this CF to the early onset of breeding.