Anne Green wrote (08 Jan 1999):
>A hand reared magpie that called our place home would perch on a power
>line and give an accurate imitation of our fox terrier dog's bark. And
>that definitely wasn't subsong either!
I recall an ABC radio program in which the late Norman Robinson was asked
about lyrebird mimicry and he mentioned that he had a recording he had made
of a magpie imitating a horse. He played the recording and there was the
magpie's unmistakeable warble which ran on into an excellent rendition of
the neighing of a horse. (This was from the forest on the escarpment at
the back of Perth behind Helena Valley.) I don't now recall what Norman
said (if anything) of the circumstances of the recording.
Can anyone on birding-aus enlighten us as to how to identify sub-song?
W.H. Thorpe's definition in Landsborough Thomson's "Dictionary of Birds"
(now some 30 years old) leaves me uncertain:-
"This can often be distinguished from full song by being quieter;
by having song-bursts of longer duration; and by having fundamental
frequency of the individual notes lower. This gives the impression that
the subsong is generally of lower overall pitch; subsong as at present
tentatively defined, is also characterised by having a quite different
temporal pattern or structute as compared with full song (Thorpe &
Pilcher)."
(I do not have access to the reference: Thorpe W.H. & Pilcher, P.M. 1958.
The nature and characteristics of sub-song. British Birds 51: 509-513.)
Has subsong since been defined less "tentatively"?
Syd Curtis at Hawthorne, Q.
H Syd Curtis
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