Comparing spatial memory in two species of tit: Recalling a single positive location

The performance of a food-storing species, the marsh tit tParue palustris), was compared with that of a nonstorer, the blue tit (P. caeruleusi, in a spatial memory task in which birds had to return to a site where they had previously been allowed to eat part of a piece ofpeanut. No differences were found between species' overall performance, but increasing retention interval from 1 min to 24 h brought about a decrease in performance. The results are discussed in relationship to the hypothesis that food-storing birds have a specialized spatial memory capacity.