Respiration during song in the canary (Serinus canaria).

Abstract 1. 1. Simultaneous recordings show a 1 : 1 coresspondence between song notes and respiratory movements. Even trilled notes as rapid as 25/sec occur in individual, shallow “mini-breaths”. 2. 2. In terms of the respiration involved, canary song is quite unlike human song which is produced by sustained expiration. The canary's dorso-ventral dimension may be maintained essentially constant or may even increase by net inspiratory gain during trilled portions of the song. 3. 3. Therefore the duration of singing need not be limited by the volume of pre-song inspiration, rather by the composition of the air after shallow exchanges that must be predominantly of dead-space air.

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