Data for: Shy-boldness cannot predict egg rejection in the Japanese tit

In response to brood parasitism, which significantly reduces the
reproductive success of avian hosts, hosts have evolved the ability to
recognize and reject parasitic eggs. Many studies have revealed the
influencing factors of egg recognition and egg rejection, and recent study
found that host personality, along the bold-shy continuum, can influence
egg rejection behavior. In addition, the egg rejection behavior of hosts
differed among populations, suggesting that individuals with different
personalities may evolve various adaptive behaviors under different
parasitic pressures, but there has been few relevant experiments to verify
this. In the present study, two populations of the Japanese tit Parus
minor distributed in China were used to examine whether there were
differences in egg rejection behavior of individuals with different
personalities. The results showed that egg rejection rates of bold
individuals (who remained in the nest box when encountering human
invaders) and shy individuals (who immediately flew away from the nest box
when encountering human invaders) were similar in both populations of the
Japanese tit, and there were also no significant differences in egg
rejection rates between individuals of the same personality in the two
populations. This study suggests that host personality, along the bold-shy
continuum, does not account for egg rejection behavior in the Japanese
tits. This may be due to either other factors that affect egg rejection
behavior counteracting the effect of personality, or the presence of
multiple personalities that act together in the Japanese tits
counteracting the effect of a single personality trait.