She can be contacted at 2416. She was looking for evidence as to whether females might find egg tossers more attractive as mates, thus increasing their chances for reproductive success. She did not find that the egg tossers had an advantage in early mating. There was also no difference in the numbers of eggs laid or nestlings raised. The main difference came in her observation of parental feeding efforts.
House wrens raise two broods per summer.
In the first brood, Dubois noted that females made many more feeding visits at the nest than did the males. This situation was reversed with the second brood. Dubois is currently analyzing the data she collected in 1999 and 2000 in preparation for writing a paper about her study. She's also gearing up for 2001, when she will look at seasonal differences in the investments parents make in their broods. She'll conduct paternity tests on the young to determine whether each brood is sired by the same male or by multiple males.