Reinforcing property of music in Java']Java sparrows (Padda oryzivora)

The reinforcing property of music for Java sparrows was examined in a chamber with three perches. One of the end perches produced music by Bach while the other perch produced music by Schoenberg. Two of four birds significantly stayed longer on the perch associated with Bach music and retained their preference of Bach to Schoenberg when other pieces of music by Bach and Schoenberg were used. These two birds also preferred Vivaldi to Carter, suggesting preference for classical music over modern music. One of the two birds that did not show a preference between Bach and Schoenberg preferred Bach to a white noise, but the remaining one did not show any musical preference to noise. These results suggest that Java sparrows have musical preference and that the reinforcing properties depend on individuals. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.