Studies with experimental manipulations of male or female condition prior to mate preference tests in zebra finches.

D, direction of preference; P, preference strength; A, activity; S, sampling; M, males; F, females; CC, choice chamber (summarizes any setup where several live stimulus birds could be inspected and approached by a focal bird); SB, Skinner-box; NC, no-choice (one female and one male placed together); HC, high condition; LC, low condition.aDays post-hatching at manipulation.bExperimental groups based on pre-treatment mass: top 10 birds = ‘high-condition’ group, remainders = ‘low-condition’ group.cLow-condition individuals showed more pronounced preferences than high-condition individuals.dLive males, but no songs.eTotal number of perch hops but not number or type of sampled males affected.