Female mate choice for male morphological traits was examined in capti
ve house sparrows in New Mexico, USA. A study of house sparrows in Den
mark indicated that male bib size is important in female choice (MOLLE
R 1988, 1989). To examine this issue further, and to compare the selec
tive pressures on male morphological traits between the two population
s, bibs of males were manipulated to one of four standard sizes and fe
males were allowed to choose from four males, one of each bib size. Th
e amount of time the female spent with each male was recorded for 40 t
rials. Males were then ranked in each trial, with a rank of 4 given to
the male the female spent the most time with. The ranks a male obtain
ed were then averaged to provide an indication of a male's attractiven
ess to females. Data from 23 different males indicated that bib size w
as not correlated with a male's average rank, even when the effects of
other traits were controlled statistically. In addition, the size of
the original (unaltered) bib was not correlated with male average rank
. Bill depth was the only trait significantly correlated with a male's
average rank. Differences in the populations studied or the methodolo
gies used may have led to differences between the results obtained in
this study and that of MOLLER (1988).