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39

Rhamphocelus, Oct. 25, 1958, IV           

The O Orange-rump has done more silent G during disputes over food. With Silver-bill (female?) and Palm Tanager. Once with back feathers fluffed. Both times with head & neck stretched forward toward opponent.

The Y bird has just done some more "silent song" like yesterday.  I think that some of the notes of the typical silent part may be just barely audible. If so, sound like very soft & melodious "Whit"s.

There is a pair of adult Silver-bills (Rhamphocelus carbo = [[strikethrough]] [[?]] [[/strikethrough]] in the same cage as the O Orange-rump.  I haven't been paying too much attention to them, but I have noticed that they have both been quite silent all the time, in spite of the fact that they have been moving around quite a bit from time to time. I should certainly have expected other Rhamphocelus to utter CN's in the same circumstances.

Of course, as soon as I wrote down the above paragraph, I  heard both the male and female Silver-bill utter CN's. "Tsit" type. Rather weak - weaker than the "Tsit's" of the Orange-rump.  Always single notes, occasionally repeated.

Still, the CN's of this species must be comparatively rare and little developed.

In general, these birds are much the same shape & proportions as the Sangre de Toros. Smaller. A little more delicately built. Possibly somewhat plumper bodies.

They also hold themselves, and give WF's and TF's, quite like the other species of the genus