Species Specificity and Individual Variation in the Songs of the Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma Rufum) and Catbird (Dumetella Carolinensis)
Document Type
Article
Abstract
The Brown Thrasher, like his fellow mimic thrushes, sings a highly variable song. So variable are the individual notes of the song that field identification on the basis of a single burst of song is hazardous. Reliable field identification traditionally has depended on the number of utterances of each sound rather than on the note qualities of the sounds themselves: Brown Thrashers (Toxostoma rufum) seem to utter sounds in pairs, whereas Catbirds (Dumetella carolinensis) do not repeat sound and Mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos) repeat each sound several times.
The purposes of this study were two: first, to establish that the thrasher does in fact distinguish his own song from that of the other mimic thrushes. Second, to develop evidence of the cues used to make the discrimination.
Publication Title
Behaviour
Publication Date
1976
Volume
57
Issue
1/2
First Page
64
Last Page
90
ISSN
1568-539X
DOI
10.1163/156853976X00118
Keywords
Toxostoma Rufum, Dumetella Carolinensis
Repository Citation
Thompson, Nicholas S., "Species Specificity and Individual Variation in the Songs of the Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma Rufum) and Catbird (Dumetella Carolinensis)" (1976). Faculty Works. 43.
https://commons.clarku.edu/facultyworks/43
