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107

Ramphocelus, Feb.23, 1962, II        

[[image - sketch of bird with red arrows pointing to the head, belly, and back]

This is probably the most typical posture accompanying series of TssN's by all birds.

Very chunky. Head sort of a rounded square. Tall diagonal wings definitely not drooped. Belly feathers fluffed. Quite like the Dawn Calling postures of Brown-capped Bush-tanagers. These TssN's were not associated with any TF's.

Then C suddenly began to utter (?)R's as a female and/or juv. landed in tree a few feet away. Then he hopped away from the female and/or juv. 6:31 a.m. Silent. But with extreme Back R as he moved away. (The upper yellow back feather were raised even higher than the rump feathers.)

It is obvious that the Back R patterns must contain a very appreciable escape component!

C and he female or juv. then flew away without doing anything more.

C back in tree by 7:00 a.m. Uttered TssN's and short (?)s. Then started to utter long (?)s and/or (?)Rs when a female or a juv. flew into a thicket below the tree.

Both B and C were still uttering jumbles of TssN's and more or less brief (?)s at 7:05 a.m. B (at least) also did a lot of preening in the intervals between vocalizations.

This series of TssN's - In N's & (?)s sequence is probably the usual sequence of most common "pairing" calls by males during