No description available.

Vocalizations and singing behaviors of Rufous-crowned Sparrows, Rufous-winged Sparrows, and Cassin's Sparrows were analyzed, described, and compared. For comparative purposes, data from previously studied Five-striped Sparrows were also included. Ten, 5, 3, and 6 types of calls were present in the repertoires of Rufous-crowns, Rufous-wings, Cassin's, and Five-stripes, respectively. Songs were sung from the ground, or from a variety of perch heights. Only Cassin's and Rufous-crowns regularly sang flight songs. Cassin's Sparrows sang a higher percentage of flight songs before nesting than after, but time of day did not affect the occurrence of flight songs. A Discriminant Function Analysis performed on six song parameters showed that the species differed significantly in the parameters measured. Song length proved to be of primary importance for discriminating the species' songs. From 8 male Rufous-crowns, 3320 songs were recorded. Fifty-one different song types composed of 259 different note complexes were found in this species' repertoire. The average song repertoire size for an individual was 12. Nine songs and 84 note complexes were shared among individuals. From 14 male Rufous-winged Sparrows, 3593 songs were recorded. Fourteen different song types were found; all individuals potentially may sing all fourteen song types. Nine hundred sixty-nine songs were recorded from 18 Cassin's Sparrows, of which 15 different songs were recognized. Individual repertoires consisted of an average of 3 song types, thus some sharing did occur, but no individuals shared the same repertoire. Rufous-crowns varied their singing rate regardless of the song type used, and singing rate was not related to time of day. Rufous-wings frequently engaged in counter-singing bouts with males alternating and matching song types. Singing rate appeared to be affected by the song type being sung. Singing rates of Cassin's Sparrow songs delivered from perches were sung at a faster rate than those sung only in flight, but there was no relation between singing rate and variation in number of different song types employed in a bout or the proportion of flight versus perch songs. The vocalizations and singing behavior of the four Aimophila species were dissimilar in many respects, and suggested possible functions of the diverse singing behaviors exhibited by these species were discussed. / Ph. D.

Thesis (M.Sc.(Electrical Engineering))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Engineering, 1992.

Part One is an investigation of the dawn chorus in the Great Tit. The major conclusions are as follows: Foraging and singing are partly incompatible because of the temporal and spatial separation of microhabitat conditions required for each activity. The dawn chorus occurs at a time of day when: a) foraging efficiency is limited by low light intensity and possibly by lack of mobility of the prey due to low temperature; b) acoustic communication is more efficient than visual displays because of poor visibility and an enhanced sound transmission; c) the rate of territorial intrusion is at its daily peak. Great Tit's readiness to sing and react agonistically towards a territorial intruder is enhanced by experimentally lowering profitability of feeding, but it does not appear to be affected by time of day. Restricting access to food early in the morning leads to higher body weight in the evenings as an anticipatory compensation. Part Two is a study of sampling strategies based on the statistical decision paradigm known as the Two-Armed Bandit problem. I studied transition behaviour in foraging experiments using concurrent variable ratio schedules. The birds' foraging behaviour approximated the predictions of a dynamic programming algorithm that calculates the optimal balance between exploring and exploiting for finite time horizons. The birds' response to patch diversity and time horizon was closer to molar maximization (total rewards over a certain period) than to molecular maximization (maximising the instantaneous probability of reward). When the environment is not totally stable these two possibilities conflict, and my results supported molar maximization. Part Three investigates the trade-off between maximising foraging efficiency and efficient territorial defence. Great Tits behaved close to the predictions of the Marginal Value model when there were no territorial intrusions, but modified their feeding behaviour in the predicted way when the probability of intrusion was higher.

Lee Chi Kuen. / Thesis submitted in: December 2004. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-109). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.iv / Abstract (Chinese Translation) --- p.vi / Acknowledgements --- p.vii / Chapter Chapter 1: --- Introduction --- p.1 / Background --- p.1 / Literature reviews --- p.2 / Chapter I) --- Authenticity in Messiaen's birdsongs --- p.2 / Chapter II) --- "Messiaen's writings, speeches and interviews about birdsong music" --- p.5 / Chapter III) --- Secondary source of Messiaen's birdsong music study --- p.18 / Chapter Chapter 2: --- Analyses (Part I) --- p.26 / "Quatuor pour la fin du Temps (1940-41), first movement" --- p.26 / Le merle noir (1951) --- p.29 / "Catalogue d'oiseaux (1956-8), the blackbird passage" --- p.40 / "Chronochromie (1959-60)，""Epode""" --- p.46 / Chapter Chapter 3: --- Analyses (Part II) --- p.55 / Petites Esquisses d'oiseaux (1985)，second movement --- p.55 / "Feuillets inedits (2001), the blackbird passage" --- p.67 / Chapter Chapter 4: --- Conclusion --- p.76 / Evolution of writings on birdsongs and music settings of birdsong --- p.76 / Impact of Technique and Traite --- p.81 / Appendix A: The analysis of Le merle noir --- p.83 / "Appendix B: The analysis of Catalogue d´ةoiseaux, the blackbird passage in second movement" --- p.91 / "Appendix C: The analysis of Petites Esquisses d´ةoiseaux, second movement" --- p.92 / "Appendix D: The analysis of Feuillets inedits, the blackbird passage" --- p.96 / Appendix E: Birdsongs mentioned in Messiaen's published works --- p.97 / Selected bibliography --- p.102

This thesis investigated the use of song repertoires during territorial defense of the song sparrow, Melospiza melodia. The functional and adaptive significances of repertoires in the order Passeriformes were reviewed. Within the family Fringillidae, an examination of repertoire size and life history features of different species revealed no significant correlations. / Observations of six neighboring song sparrows yielded information about the relative uses of repertoire-dependent and repertoire-independent mechanisms in coordinated song interactions, as well as in signalling agonistic probabilities. The behavior of song switching, independent of the identities of song types, was found to most effectively perform both types of functions. / A series of playback experiments tested and supported the hypothesis that the song sparrow's rate of switching song types increases with agonistic stimulation. Song versatility, rather than switching rate per se, was found to be an appropriate agonistic stimulus.

Vocalization behavior of captive loggerhead shrikes was studied at the Avian Science and Conservation Centre of McGill University. In the first stage, calls of two pairs kept in indoor cages were individually recorded not only to catalogue these calls spectrographically and quantitatively but also to use them in identifying the birds sexually. Males vocalized 21 call figures for 16.50% of the observation time and females, 8 call figures for 2.64% of the observation time. Males contiguously delivered 1 to 11 bouts with a mean of 7.25 min for a rate of 6.06 bouts/h; females delivered 1 to 9 bouts with a mean of 4.07 min for a rate of 1.27 bouts/h. Males not only vocalized at a higher rate and longer than females, but also demonstrated trill calls which the females did not do. In the second stage, five pairs were paired in large outdoor breeding pens. Their calls were recorded and current visual displays observed in an effort to understand calls related to breeding behaviors. Two new calls figures vocalized by males as well as 2 call figures by young shrikes were recorded. Each male demonstrated distinctive calls that differed from those of other males during nest-site selection, nest building and copulation, but similar calls during food offering, aggressive and alarm behavior. Despite the call differences, all males performed similar visual displays during the above activities. Conversely, breeding females gave no calls, other than harsh calls during food offering, food begging, aggressive and alarm behaviors.

No description available.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Canterbury, 2004. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves [127-135]). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-85).