Complexity of calls and songs in the white-rumped snow finch Onychostruthus taczanowskii

摘要

This paper analyzes the diversity and complexity of calls and songs of the white-rumped snow finch recorded from Heimahe, Maduo, Huashixia, and Tuotuohe of the Tibet Plateau using SAS-Lab avian song analysis software. The results revealed that the value of the call rate changes quickly from 0.522 to 0.127 and 0.119, which reveals that there are fewer notes in calls. Calls were found from sonograms to be very simple with more harmonics and with high note repeat. Songs are more complex. The numbers of syllable types increase at the beginning period but are more stable when more song types are calculated. No one identical song type was discovered during the field recording and song analysis. However, different song types share more syllables. According to the diversity and complexity pattern reviewed by Lei et al. (2003), the song complexity patterns of the white-rumped snow finch may belong to the “unstable changing in sequence of polysyllable” pattern with typical “serial song” from immediate variety of syllables. Futhermore, the limited syllable during a song type and the very complex and diversified song type in song repertoire suggest that song complexity of the white-rumped snow finch may be caused by not only more rich syllables within a song, but also and even more for the organization and output of syllable sequence among different song types [ Acta Zoologica Sinica 50 (3): 348 - 356, 2004].