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Structure in Primary Song of the Mockingbird, Mimus Polyclottos
Wildenthal, Joyce L.
Wildenthal, Joyce L.
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Abstract
The present study presents a quantitative description of certain aspects of the song of the Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos. Tentative suggestions concerning the significance and function of various parameters of the song are included. Especial attention was paid to developing economical means of obtaining certain kinds of data using a sample size large enough for purposes of a general comparative study. The considerable complexity of song in Mockingbirds has impeded taking quantitative data in the past. Marler ( 1960b :: 277) referred to this problem as it concerned other species with similarly complex song.
The study is limited to a.description of primary song as defined by Lister (1953a) and described more fully by Thorpe (1961). Primary or advertising song, defined functionally, is that sound used by male birds for delimitation and defense of territory and for mate attraction. Territorial song has been reported in banded female mockingbirds in the fall (Laskey, 1936). The recorded samples of song used in the present study are of advertising song delivered by males on territory in early summer.
Description
M.A. University of Kansas, Zoology 1963
Date
1963-05-31
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University of Kansas