Abstract
Besides the mother-infant-relationships
discussed in a previous paper, experience
during the first days or weeks of life
has also proved to exert an important influence
on adult behavior, mainly upon
the determination of sexual preferences,
but also on several other aspects of social
behavior. The establishment of sexual
attachments through early experience is
generally referred to as sexual imprinting.
Its characteristics have first been compiled
by Lorenz (I 935) although the
phenomenon of early sexual fixation had
been mentioned long before (cf. Gray
1963). Since 1935, numerous experimental
investigations have been carried out
about sexual imprinting. Most of them
have been concerned with precocial birds
(for review, see Moltz 1963, Hess 1964,
Schutz 1965, 1968, Sluckin 1965, Bateson
1966, o.a.). For altricial birds, material
is still very scanty and consists mainly
of numerous occasional observations of
hand-raised individuals which became imprinted
on humans (for review, see Klinghammer
1967). The only experimental
investigations with altricial birds are those
by Nicolai (1956, 1959, 1964)with Bullfinches
Pyrrhula pyrrhula and the parasitic
widow birds Viduinae, by Warriner,
et a/. {1963) with pigeons and by Klinghammer
(I.e.) with Ring Doves Streptopelia
risoria and Mourning Doves Zenaidura
macroura (Klinghammer I.e.).