VOCALIZATIONS AND BEHAVIOR OF THE WILLET

While the vocal repertoires of several game species have been analyzed spectrographically (Collias and Joos 1953, Ellis and Stokes 1966, Stokes 1967, Williams 1969, Heinz and Gysel 1970, Samuel and Beightol 1973), other non-passerines have been largely neglected. The shorebirds (Charadrii) provide a possible exception. The flight-song has frequently been discussed in shorebird studies because of its importance in territorial behavior, and has been analyzed in detail by Heidemann and Oring (1976). Some recent studies have presented spectrographic analyses of the whole vocal repertoire of single species (Oring 1968, Forsythe 1970, Bursian 1971, Graul 1974, Jenni et al. 1974, Skeel 1978). This paper presents a spectrographic analysis of Willet (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus) vocalizations and describes their importance in the bird's biology. It includes comments on their etiology, functions and adaptiveness.

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