PREDATORS OF QUAIL EGGS, AND THE EVIDENCE OF THE REMAINS - IMPLICATIONS FOR NEST PREDATION STUDIES

We evaluated the consumption of Japanese Quail (Coturnix coturnix) egg s by captive reptiles, birds, and mammals in order to examine potentia l bias of nest predation experiments, and to determine whether predato r identification through egg remains is reliable by the commonly used methods. Because none of the 86 individuals of 22 species of snakes co nsumed quail eggs in captivity, nest predation may be under-represente d in artificial nest experiments. All three groups of predators left a ll types of egg remains, suggesting that researchers should refrain fr om classifying nest predators only by egg remains. The presence of scr atches on quail eggs could be considered as a potential tool for reduc ing small-mouthed mammal bias on predation estimates in small-sized eg gs in nest predation experiments.