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THE WILSON JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY • Vol. 123, No. 1, March 2011 
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FIG. 5. Other calls of Willisomis populations. Nomenclature follows recommendations of this paper. Acronyms for 
recording archives in Appendix. (A-B) Down-slurred calls. (A) W. p. griseiventris, Rio Bararati, Amazonas, Brazil (ISL 
BMW 229:045). (B) W. p. poecilinotus , Iwokrama Forest Reserve, Guyana (ISL BMW 155:021). (C-E) Inverted U shaped 
calls. (C) W. p. poecilinotus, 25 km SE Maripa, Bolivar, Venezuela (ISL BMW 071:003). (D) W. p. poecilinotus, Iwokrama 
Forest Reserve, Guyana (ISL BMW 144:012). (E) W. p. lepidonotus , El Tigre, Loreto. Peru (ISL JA 01:050). (F) Upscale 
call W. p. griseiventris. Fazenda Rancho Grande, Rondonia, Brazil (ISL KJZ 016:034). 
populations. Notes delivered by nigrigula and 
vidua (Fig. 4D) lacked the down-pitched beginning 
of the note and had a flat or sometimes ascending, 
vibrant base of wider frequency range than notes of 
the other populations. 
Other Calls. —Calls other than contact calls, 
chirrs, and raspy series were relatively rarely 
recorded and, in most instances, the recordist did 
not clearly attribute the call to a Willisomis 
population. Four differently shaped calls have been 
recorded, including down-slurred, inverted U 
shaped, and upslurred notes. The most common 
type was down-slurred, -0.2-0.4 sec in duration, 
and descending generally in the range of 4.0 to 
1.5 mHz (Fig. 5 A). Calls of this type were found in 
recordings of griseiventris , nigrigula , vidua , and 
lepidonotus above 800 m. A longer (0.45-0.6 sec), 
higher pitched, down-slurred (6 to 4 mHz) ‘ ‘pseer ’ 
(Fig. 5B) has been recorded twice for poecilinotus. 
Short (~0.25 sec), inverted U shaped notes 
sounding like an abrupt ‘ ‘wheet were recorded 
for poecilinotus in the 2.6—3.4 mHz frequency 
range (Fig. 5C) and in the 1.9—2.3 mHz frequency 
range (Fig. 5D) for gutturalis in which the notes 
were doubled, for lepidonotus below 800 m in a 
short series (Fig. 5E), and for an uncertain 
population near the contact zone between guttur¬ 
alis and griseiventris . An abrupt upscale note given 
in series was recorded for griseiventris (Fig. 5F) 
and for lepidonotus below 800 m. The meager data 
suggest differences in other calls between northern 
and southern populations may be identified with a 
larger number of recordings. 
Little is known of the functions of vocalizations 
in the Willisomis complex. K. J. Zimmer observed 
and tape-recorded a display by a male nigrigula in 
the presence of a female-plumaged individual in 
August 1991 near the Rio Cristalino, Mato 
Grosso, Brazil. Perched on a slender diagonal 
branch ~0.7 m above the ground, the male 
drooped his wings, stretched his neck up vertical¬ 
ly, and extended his head up and down rapidly on 
a vertical axis, calling continuously all the while. 
The calls included raspy series and chirrs, and 
other calls, and are the only indication we had of 
the behavioral role of these vocalizations. 
Biogeography of Parapatric Populations 
Biogeographic analysis indicated numerous 
instances of apparent parapatry between morpho- 
