Plumage coloration, not length or symmetry of tail-streamers, is a sexually selected trait in North American barn swallows

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Plumage brightness predicts male mating success in the lekking golden-collared manakin, Manacus vitellinus (2006, background): “…quantification of variation among males in the specific spectral properties of their plumage and relating this variation to individual reproductive or mating success (e.g., Andersson et al., 1998; Doucet et al., 2004; Keyser and Hill, 2000; Safran and McGraw, 2004; Siefferman and Hill, 2003).”
How feather colour reflects its melanin content (2005, methodology): “- Hue, saturation and brightness levels were all positively intercorrelated within feather patches for both males and females (Table 1; also see Safran & McGraw 2004).”
Quantifying iridescent coloration in animals: a method for improving repeatability (2011, background): “…have measured color directly from the bird or from a stacked group of plucked feathers that simulate a feather patch on the animal (e.g., Safran and McGraw 2004; Shawkey and Hill 2005), including some studies on iridescent bird coloration (Costa and Macedo 2005; Doucet et al. 2006;…”