THE HONEY-GUIDES 99 



established bird at its call site), and M repaired to the central site to 

 utter the protest call. For the next 15 minutes M kept shrieldng 

 its protest notes, then 2 minutes of silent moving about in the tree, 

 then protest calling from both birds near together. This was followed 

 by about 2 minutes of silent sitting, the birds quietly watching each 

 other at very close range, then again both began to give their protest 

 calls, and again a period of silent sitting just outside the central call 

 site. At 12:09 they flew 20 yards upstream, first shrieking, then 

 silent; at 12:14 they flew back to just outside the central call site 

 where both began to shriek profusely. After a short break in this 

 noise, C gave the purring site call, w^hereupon M approached C 

 crying its protest notes but then returned to the site proper, still 

 crying. More of this alternate calling, silent sitting, and chasing for 

 another 15 minutes. At 12:53 C darted up and out (or at?) M, who 

 also rose up suddenly (almost simultaneously) and they flew off in 

 chasing flight, C close behind M. During this pursuit one of the 

 birds was heard to utter a little chattering crying similar to that 

 given by /. indicator at the site during sexual pursuit, and also similar 

 to that occasionally made by /. minor, a series of kizz, kizz, kizz notes. 

 At 1:09 the demonstration w^as still continuing; C again gave the 

 purring site call, and M cried its protest and was alertly watching C; 

 then M also gave the site call, which was, however, very weak and 

 subdued, or hushed. C again gave the site call and M dashed off 

 in its direction shrieking a great deal as it went. Then followed 

 much chasing with M close behind C, both shrieking protest notes 

 excitedly until 1:26, when Ranger left. 



Throughout, M did far more "protest" crying than C, and showed 

 itself to be the individual defending the call site, which it "held," 

 launching its attacks on C from it, and coming back to hold it in 

 an alert look-out manner, and issuing forth again after C had indi- 

 cated its persisting presence by giving the site call from one or 

 another of the outer limits of the call site. C usually was not allowed 

 to perch at the central site, and all its purring "songs" were given 

 from the outer points of the site. Two of the long "silent" sittings 

 did take place at the central site, however. Ranger writes that it is 

 difficult to describe the "method" in the behavior of C, but it was a 

 kind of passive, patient persistence. "The bird did stand up to M 

 on equal footing with it during the spasms of protest shrieking and 

 during the several silent perchings . . . The icy tenseness of the 

 silent slow-gazing sitting was relieved by a chasing initiated by one 

 or the other. The longest silent sitting lasted 33 minutes. The 

 average was of course very much shorter — a few minutes. When 

 shrieking at each other the attitude of protest or defiance in the 

 birds was enhanced by the wide open gape with the lower mandible 



309265—55 8 



