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8

Dacnis,  Apr. 27, 1960, II  

started to creep along the sides & roof of the cage (there are a lot of dead leaves on top of the cage). Obviously looking for insects. It is now fairly obvious why the Dacnises are not as often associated with mixed flocks around BCI as one might expect.  Their feeding habits are quite distinctive. They must compete very little with the other local honeycreepers.

The most interesting reactions of the A birds today in their new cage were several "greeting" warbling songs by the [[male symbol]]. At least 3 times, the [[male symbol]] uttered a "greeting" song when he rejoined the [[female symbol]] after being separated from her (at least several yards away.) All these songs were obviously variants of the warbling song I heard yesterday. The song I heard most clearly today was uttered by the [[male symbol]] when he landed beside the [[female symbol]] after being supplanted by a [[female symbol]] Honeycreeper. This song consisted of 3 identical or nearly identical phrases, rapidly repeated one right after the other. Might by transcribed as : "Tsuh-tsit-tseewew. Tsuh-tsit-tsewew. Tsuh-tsit-tseewew." (The "wew" of the "tseewew" notes was moderately long. Might be better transcribed as "wooooo," except that it had a definite ew sound.) The other songs were uttered when the [[male symbol]] joined the [[female symbol]] without having been involved in hostilities beforehand. All similar but probably not identical to the song transcribed immediately above. All the songs were moderately loud, definitely not "whisper" songs (see also today's notes on [[?]] )

As far as I could tell, these songs were not accompanied by any special ritualized postures or movements. And the female make no apparent response of any sort.