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61

Rhamphocelus[[Ramphocelus]], May 1, 1960, VI           

cage, but after continuing his alternate "Pssseeet"s and "Auh"s for a while, he suddenly flew to the female, landed right beside her, and leaned over her back, in another apparent attempt to mount. The female immediately flew away, as usual.

These alternate "Pssseeet" - "Auh" performances are the sort of thing Skutch would call "day song", while the "Keeyoo" performances are what he would call "dawn song."

I presume that the motivation of the "Pssseeeet" - "Auh" performances are closely related to the motivation of the "Keeyoo" performances.  Possibly the "Pssseeeet" - "Auh"s are just lower intensity than the "Keeyoo"s. Or the "Pssseeeet" - "Auh"s might be longer distance patterns.

It is also possible that the "Pssseeeet" - "Auh"s contain a stronger hostile component than the "Keeyoo"s. I noticed this morning that the "Pssseeeet"- "Auh"s of male A tended to occur in alternation with single "Auh"s from another male Sangre de Toro in another cage about 50 ft away. One male may have been responding to the other — but I don't know which one initiated the responses.

(Before I forget, I should mention that male A definitely does not try to give his "Keeyoo" songs from the highest perch in the cage. Quite the contrary, in a fact. Most of his "Keeyoo" songs are uttered from perches several feet from the top — quite frequently below the perch on which the female is sitting. He may also prefer not very high perches for his "Pssseeeet" - "Auh" songs, but I haven't seen enough of these to be sure.)

I am now becoming more and more convinced that Rhamphocelus [[Ramphocelus]], is quite closely related to the Saltators on the one hand, and slightly more distantly related to Chlorospingus on the other hand. The relationships between these and some other genera might be represented by some dendrogram

Transcription Notes:
Author wrote as: Rhamphocelus