Abstract
Over 50 studies have investigated how birds recognise conspecific song using playback (reviewed by Becker 1982; Weisman and Ratcliffe 1987). Typically, these experiments have compared the responses of territorial males (of mostly north temperate species) to broadcast of natural and altered species’ songs. Song playback simulates the intrusion of a rival male and usually elicits aggressive behaviour from the subject. If the alteration of a particular song feature reduces this aggression, compared to the natural song, one may infer the feature is important in song recognition. That is, either the song lacks species-specificity, or is recognised but not considered very threatening (Weary in press).
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© 1992 Springer Science+Business Media New York
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Ratcliffe, L., Weisman, R. (1992). Pitch Processing Strategies in Birds: A Comparison of Laboratory and Field Studies. In: McGregor, P.K. (eds) Playback and Studies of Animal Communication. NATO ASI Series, vol 228. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-6203-7_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-6203-7_15
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