... patch. The patch should be plentiful in food supply (net rate of energy), but it is equally important to consider the rate of possible predation - if there is a high density of predators, the patch will probably not be chosen even if it is rich in prey (Pyke, Pulliam and Charnov, 1977). The animal may also consider the possibilities of mate search and aggressive interactions. If an animal can learn the locations and types of patches in an area, a patch can be accepted or rejected before it is encountered, thereby saving valuable search time. However, Smith and Dawkins (1971) found that titmice do not allocate all of their time to the area with the greatest abundance of food (as would be expected), but instead allocated the most time to the best area, and progressively less time to progressively worse areas. This behaviour is actually adaptive, as it is ...

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