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Ramphocelus, Feb. 17,1962 II

uttered TssN's.

One or more males uttered very shorts calls which were either very short Ф's or short PN-Ф performances. Comme ça:
"Tseeeee tsuh tsuh"

[[image]]

(When such calls were prolonged, by the addition of a ФR component, the latter was inserted where the green arrow points.

Almost all ФR's, in Ф performances, start by being high pitched and then become progressively lower in pitch. The initial high pitch is probably related to the high pitched initial note of the performance (which seems to be usually or always nothing more than a TssN or a PN). I.E. the ФR's during Ф probably contain a stronger pairing component at the beginning than the end. The whole Ф performance may be a steady progression from purely or primarily pairing (the initial note) to purely hostile (the terminal "Yah.")

By 6:45 ,there were lots of males sitting on more or less exposed perches uttering a variety of notes (including NN's, TssN's and/or PN's, and Ф's.) But everything was pretty quiet again by 7:10.

This evening, ca. 6:15 p.m., I saw a lot of Yellow-rumps flying about in a very excited manner. At least 5 males and 3 females. In two adjacent trees. Lots of Ф's and NN's An appreciable number of PN's and/or TssN's. All sorts of Ф's.

When several birds utter many ФR's very rapidly the general effect is comme ça: [[image]]. This quavering quality may be characteristic of the ФR's uttered by each individual bird. Quite reminiscent

Transcription Notes:
[[image: sketch of call pattern]] [[image: sketch of rapid Фs]] Ф phi