NO. 5 THE YELLOW-RUM PED TANAGER MOYNIHAN 3 



includes many different kinds of sounds. It is difficult to describe 

 adequately but its principal features may be summarized as follows. 



To human ears, three patterns seem to be "extreme" types. These 

 are Nasal Notes, "pure" Rattles, and melodious "Kioo" or "Klioo" 

 Notes. 



The ordinary Nasal Notes of yellow-rumped tanagers seem to be 

 very similar to the typical Nasal Notes of crimson-backed tanagers 

 in sound, motivation, and functions. A single Nasal Note might be 

 transcribed by something like "Anh." Notes of this type are uttered 

 by adults of both sexes and by juveniles. They seem to be purely 

 hostile and produced when the tendency to escape is at least slightly 

 stronger than the tendency to attack. They are usually or always 

 alarm or warning signals, but may also serve as contact notes in 

 many circumstances, helping to maintain cohesion among members 

 of the same social group. 



The pure Rattles, on the other hand, are very reminiscent of some 

 of the Rattles of Chlorospingus species (crimson -backed and silver- 

 billed tanagers seem to have little or nothing in the way of patterns 

 of this type). They are series of very short notes, uttered very 

 rapidly one right after the other. The length of the series is extremely 

 variable. Typical pure Rattles are rather loud, moderately low in 

 pitch, and mechanical or "wooden" sounding. They also are uttered 

 by adults of both sexes and by juveniles and seem to be purely 

 hostile. They are uttered with some appreciable frequency during 

 disputes and fights between individuals of the same sex as well as 

 during a variety of encounters between mates or potential mates. 

 They are obviously aggressive and are usually uttered by attacking 

 birds immediately before or during actual attack, or by birds which 

 are at least advancing toward an opponent (or partner). They are 

 relatively seldom uttered by retreating or escaping birds. They usually, 

 perhaps always, function as threat, probably exclusively so during 

 encounters between individuals of the same sex. 



Like the adult males of many other species of tanagers and finches, 

 adult male yellow-rumped tanagers perform "Dawn Calling" during 

 the breeding season. Typical Dawn Calling is a series of notes uttered 

 at approximately regular intervals. The individual notes are of 

 moderate length, and the intervals between notes are usually at least 

 as long as the notes themselves. In some cases all the notes of a 

 series are essentially identical ; in others a series will include several 

 different kinds of notes which are not identical but are very similar 

 to one another. Many Dawn Calling performances of some species 



