Song, sex and sensitive phases in the behavioural devebpment of birds.

A number of parallels can be drawn between song learning and sexual imprinting, but how do the two processes interact during development? In zebra finches, the only species for which there are data on both song learning and sexual imprinting, an important difference between the two processes is that song learning usually occurs after the birds have sexually imprinted. Does sexual imprinting influence subsequent song tutor choice? Recent work comparing the song and sexual preferences of individual males suggests that a male does not necessarily choose a song tutor who is of the same species as he has sexually imprinted on.