IS THE COAL TIT PARUS-ATER REALLY THE MOST SUBORDINATE OF THE SCANDINAVIAN TITS

The Coal Tit Pants ater is generally considered to be the most subordi nate of Scandinavian tits, because of its small size (Hogstad 1978, Al atalo and Moreno 1987, Suhonen et al. 1992). However, few data exist o n this issue, In an aviary experiment Alatalo and Moreno (1987) record ed aggressive interactions between 5 Willow Tits P.montanus and 5 Coal Tits. The Willow Tits were usually successful in their supplanting at tacks, but the dominance order between the two species was not absolut e and the number of interspecific interactions were few. As emphasised by the authors, it is necessary to consider how applicable the result s from birds held in captivity are to the natural situation. In this p aper I present the results of interspecific encounters between five ti t species visiting an outdoor feeder in central Norway. In general, th e following social rank order was observed: Great Tit P. major > Blue Tit P. caeruleus > Marsh Tit P. palustris > Coal Tit > Willow Tit. The Coal Tits showed a statistically significant tendency to be dominant over the larger Willow Tits, although not in all cases. Nevertheless, it seems that the Coal Tit's status in the social hierarchy requires c onsideration in the current discussion on the interspecific competitio n for food and foraging sites among species belonging to the tit guild of the coniferous forest.