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   It appears to be uttered in a considerable variety of social situations; and may be produced by the thwarting of several different kinds of motivation. It seems to be most common as a social signal between the members of a mated pair.  As such, it is apparently confined to males; and usually or only uttered by a male when he has become slightly separated from the female.
   The male usually begins to sing as soon as the distance separating him from the female is more than a few feet, and continues to sing, repeating phrase after phrase, as long as she remains within sight (or, at least, as long as she stays fairly near him, and he remains aware of her presence.) This singing is largely independent of the cause of the separation. The male may begin to sing as soon, and continue as vigorously, when he moves away from  the female as when she moves away from him. (There are, of course, expectations to this general rule.  When, for instance, the male has moved away to perform some particularly energetic, high intensity, activity, such as feeding or fighting, he may put off singing until his other activity has declined or stopped.)
   The most interesting singing performances are those which are induced by the female moving away from the male, when she remains for some time.  The male may then continue to sing throughout this period without making any attempt to fly to or join the male without any appreciable decline in the apparent intensity of his performance. (i.e. the loudness and frequency of his phrases), no matter how prolonged it may be. (It seldom lasts more than three or four minutes, however; as the female usually rejoins the male, or flies away into the distance, before then.)
    When the female does rejoin the male, his singing stops immediately. He usually just relaxes immediately, sits quietly in a resting posture, or does a little preening and/or other comfort activities in a perfectly normal (i.e. obviously "authochthonous") manner.

                  DISCUSSION

     This singing cannot be interpreted in conventional ethological terms.