iHMlflOlli of Panamanian Buff- throated Saltators M 



M Wheet" 



Hotes, Hoarse Notes, "Tsit" Notes, Rattles, Flourishes, Dawn Calling* ^gHIJtifr 



A 



The "Vheet" Notes (all or most of which might "be equally well transcribed 

 as "Tseet") are clear, fairly high pitched notes of moderate length. They may 

 "be uttered singly or in series, sometimes short, occasionally long. They are 

 uttered in a great variety of more or less ambiguous situations. I have heard 

 such notes uttered by apparently single birds in the wild, by one or both birds 

 of pairs in the wild, and by captive birds in close association with both overtly 

 hostile and overtly sexual patterns. They are uttered much more frequently by 

 birds in flight, or hopping rapidly from perch to perch, than by birds sitting 

 still. Thus, they could be purely looomotory "flight calls" and /or hostile 

 signals and/or sexual signals. It may be significant, however, that the longest 

 and most rapid series of such notes heard during the present study were uttered 

 by captive individuals escaping from more ae-gressive individuals during particul- 

 arly violent disputes. This would suggest that many, perhaps all, "Wheet" Notes 

 are purely or predominantly hostile, and produced when the tendency to escape is 

 stronger than the tendency to attack. They may be related to the "Tsit" Notes 

 of Streaked Saltators, and subserve the same or similar functions, (in many, 

 perhaps most, other tanagers and ,f inches, vocalizations which include clear 

 •»ee" sounds are purely or predominantly sexual. The only known exceptions, among 

 the neotropical forms with which I am familiar, are^ Chlorospingua apNfitf* 



Atlapetes and related genera. If the 



