Initiation of Courtship by Hypothalamic Implants of Testosterone Propionate in Castrated Doves (Streptopelia risoria)

Abstract

DAVIDSON¹ in 1966 and Lisk² in 1967 suggested that a system sensitive to androgen, situated in the preoptic and anterior hypothalamic regions, is associated with mechanisms underlying copulatory behaviour in the male rat. This system would seem to be the counterpart of the oestrogen-sensitive systems known to be associated with patterns of female sexual receptivity in the rat³, the rabbit⁴ and the cat⁵. The problem arises as to whether the male courtship patterns which often precede copulation are similarly linked to discrete androgen-sensitive regions of the central nervous system (CNS). This seems doubtful in male mammals, for mechanisms underlying such patterns are thought to be functionally independent of gonadal hormones⁶. There is preliminary evidence, however, that in the male fowl simultaneous androgenic activation of the preoptic region and an area extending from the palaeostriatum to the lateral diencephalon is required for courtship display⁷.