Differential avoidance of mimetic salamanders by free-ranging birds.

Members of a free-ranging avian community avoided the mimetic morph of the salamander Plethodon cinereus significantly more often than a nonmimetic morph when offered with the model eft stage of Notophthalmus viridescens and the palatable salamander Desmognathus ochrophaeus. This is apparently the first demonstration of the efficacy of mimetic coloration of salamanders to uncaged birds.