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17

Dacnis, Mar. 13, 1961, II                
                     
bed by something like :"Int ta-sa ta-sa whoooh whooo."  

[[image - sketch of bird]]
Fluffed posture accompanying CN's and Long Phrases.

Possibly sometimes (but almost certainly not usually) more diagonal.

Then he uttered several more song phrases. Again included lots of "zee zee" notes.

I have now come to the conclusion that the basic form of all or most complete songs of this species is a series of CN-like doublets followed by one or two hoarser & harsher "Whoooo" Notes.

It is easy to imagine how the CN & HCN patterns of the Red-legged Blue Honeycreepers could have been derived from a Song of this type.

Later this morning, around 10:00 a.m., I was surprised to hear the female B altering lots of Song phrases all by herself (the male was quiet throughout the period the female sang). She uttered these songs as she sat, and also when she moved about her cage in a perfectly ordinary way. There was never any trace of any ritualized postures or movements (except occasional, not very extreme, Flicking) at any time during the period she sang. As far as I could tell her bill was kept completely closed throughout all her songs. 

Her songs were extremely variable. Most of them varied between something like "Zee zee zee zee ta-whee-yoo ta-whee-yoo" and something like "zee zee zee Wheeooo." All her singing was really quite