Can Lanchester's laws help explain interspecific dominance in birds?

We studied the applicability of Lanchester's laws of combat to explain interspecific dominance in birds. We focused on 10 species of Australian birds in the and zone of New South Wales that foraged at an established locust trap. Consistent with the linear law, larger species usually dominated smaller species in one-on-one encounters. We found no support for the N-square law, which predicted that large numbers of smaller species could dominate larger species when more abundant. Further analysis of the most abundant species revealed that it was less likely to visit the locust trap when larger, more dominant heterospecifics were present. Body size, and not numerical superiority, seems to be an important determinant in interspecific foraging decisions in birds.