Habitat Selection in Birds. With Special Reference to the Effects of Afforestation on the Breckland Avifauna

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Abstract
The Breckland heaths have been planted with young pines. Until the trees are some 4 yrs. old, only heathland birds occur, but within the next 5 yrs. these die out, being replaced by a new avifauna. Deficiency of nesting sites explained a few distributions. Food, though clearly important in controlling the total bird population, did not appear to limit the distribution of any sp. investigated. Most distribution could be explained only by postulating the existence of specific habitat selection[long dash]that each sp. selects its ancestral habitat, instinctively recognizing it by the conspicuous, not necessarily the essential, features. The evidence for this is summarized. Although it restricts distribution, habitat selection ensures a suitable habitat, replacing the chance dispersal of other animals. Birds rarely break away from the ancestral habitat, at times successfully. Passerine spp. of the North Temperate region often tend to occupy distinct but adjoining habitats, affording the same essential requirements but differing in their conspicuous features. No correlated adaptations are apparent, and it is tentatively suggested that in such spp. segregation has been achieved with the assistance of differential habitat selection. The importance of the psychological factor, usually ignored, in bird distribution is emphasized.

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