AVIS-IBIS

Birds of Indian Subcontinent

VARIATION IN THE SONG OF THE CHAFFINCH FRINGILLA COELEBS.

Publication Type:Journal Article
Year of Publication:1952
Authors:Marler., P
Journal:Ibis
Volume:94
Issue:3
Date Published:1952
ISBN Number:1474-919X
Keywords:France, Fringilla, Fringilla coelebs, Fringillidae
Abstract:Summary.* 1 A method is described for transcribing the song of the Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs, based on a division into two parts, the trill and the terminal flourish or phrase. * 2 Songs from five separate localities—Pico in the Azores, the Seine Valley in N.W. France, the Thames Valley, N. Lancashire and the Scottish Highlands—are distinguished on the number and arrangement of note sequences, in the trill, and of notes, in the phrase. * 3 Fourteen distinct types of trill were discovered and forty-five types of phrase. * 4 It is shown that both the trill and, more particularly, the phrase are highly variable even within one locality. * 5 The numbers of possible phrase types which might be recorded by this method are calculated, and it is shown that most of these up to three notes have been discovered, that further investigation will quickly reveal more 4-note and 5-note types, but that the discovery of 6-note and 7-note types will be slow because of their comparative rarity. * 6 It emerges that some song types are much more common than others. Trills of two or three sequences of descending pitch make up 83 per cent of the results and none of the other twelve types exceeds 3 per cent of the total. * 7 In the phrase from 0 to 7 notes may be used, but those with 3–5 notes are most frequent. There is evidence for a preference for certain patterns within each number-class. * 8 It is shown statistically that geographical variation of song between the separate regions occurs and that the songs characteristic of any one area can only be described in statistical terms. The suggested existence of song types confined and exclusive to a particular region cannot be substantiated, although this condition is approached in one case. * 9 From a comparison with data from Russia, it appears that the trills are similar to the Western European forms, but that the range of notes in the phrase is lower and that the mean number of notes per phrase is lower—1.99 as compared with 2.91. * 10 The song variants are distributed as dialects, and it is shown that the formation of these can be understood in the light of work on song inheritance. * 11 It is inferred from its phenotypic nature that the geographical variation of the Chaffinch song cannot still be regarded as an example of incipient speciation.
URL:http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-919X.1952.tb01845.x
Short Title:Ibis
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