I 
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. 
ihe male usually begins to sing as soon as the distance separating him from the 
female is more than a few feet, a.nd. 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, exceptions 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.) 
fhe most interesting singing performances are those \diich are induced by the 
r emale moving away from the male, when she remains nearby for some tirife. The male may 
K(&£x,W.*j £*-UXy rta 
then continue to sing throughout this period, without any appreciable decline in 
A 
the apparent intensity of his performance (i.j~. 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 0 e* obviously "autochthonous") 
manner* 
DISCUSSION 
This singing cannot be interpreted in conventional ethological terms. 
