String-pulling tasks are a widely used paradigm in animal cognition research. The present study tested whether ten azure-winged magpies (Cyanopica cyanus) could solve a series of multiple-strings problems with the aim of systematically investigating which rules this species uses to solve different-patterned string tasks, i.e., tasks in which subjects have to choose between two strings only one of which is connected to bait. When the subjects faced the parallel strings task (T1), five birds (C3, C5, C8, C9, and C10) were able to solve the task and acted in a goal-directed manner. Three birds (C5, C8, and C9) successfully solved the oblique parallel strings task (T3). The azure-winged magpies exhibited proximity selection in the oblique parallel strings task (C1 and C4 in T2), and the task with one string folded at a right angle (C3, C6 and C8 in T5). Several subjects also performed simple strategies in other unresolved tasks, e.g., random selection, trial-and-error learning, and side bias strategies (i.e., a certain degree of “left-handed” tendency). These results demonstrated that the azure-winged magpie possesses the potential to solve simple multiple-string tasks, although when faced with more difficult problems they could not solve them.

拉弦任务是动物认知研究中广泛使用的范例。本研究测试了十只天翅喜（Cyanopica cyanus）可以解决一系列多字符串问题，目的是系统地研究该物种用于解决不同模式的字符串任务的规则，即，受试者必须在两个字符串之间进行选择的任务，其中只有一个与诱饵相关。当受试者面对平行弦任务（T1）时，五只鸟（C3，C5，C8，C9和C10）能够解决任务并以目标导向的方式行动。三只鸟（C5，C8和C9）成功解决了斜平行弦乐器任务（T3）。天蓝色喜在斜平行弦任务（T2中为C1和C4）和一根弦以直角折叠的任务中（T5中为C3，C6和C8）表现出接近选择。一些受试者在其他未解决的任务中也执行了简单的策略，例如随机选择，反复试验学习，和偏见策略（即一定程度的“惯用左手”倾向）。这些结果表明，天蓝色的喜具有解决简单多弦任务的潜力，尽管当面对更困难的问题时，他们无法解决这些问题。