Inter-individual variability during morning choruses in Japanese quail males (Coturnix coturnix japonica).

We compared the organization of dawn choruses in five groups of Japanese quail, Coturnix coturnix japonica, males (four groups of kin-related males and one group of unrelated males). We documented the structure of chorus groups: one male sang much more than the others during the dawn peak in four of the five groups, and this regardless of the number of males in the group. The dominant singers were then removed from two similar-sized groups, one of kin-related (K3) and the other of unrelated (NK) males. The quantity of song emitted by the remaining NK males was modified, but not that emitted by the K3 males.