Avian brood parasites have provided a long-standing and popular model system for the experimental analysis of self- and species-recognition, which are essential for most critical aspects of social behavior. Specifically, when faced with a nest containing own and foreign eggs, the foremost question is how individuals discriminate themselves (their own eggs) from others (foreign eggs) by utilizing each of their recognition system’s components: perception, cognition, and response. An overview of advances in the experimental analyses of hosts' egg rejection behaviors is presented here. Such studies provide detailed information for our understanding of the evolutionary impacts of parasitic birds on hosts’ cognitive processes and behavioral outcomes in the context of self- and species-recognition.

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