Mate, neighbour and stranger songs: a female song sparrow perspective.

We investigated discrimination by female song sparrows Melospiza melodia, between different categories of male song using the copulation solicitation display as a preference assay. Females responded most strongly to songs recorded from their mates, less strongly to songs of neighbouring males and least strongly to songs of stranger males. Among the stranger songs, however, females preferred songs that were most similar structurally to song types in their mates' repertoires (matching songs). These results are interpreted as evidence that females can recognize individual males based on the songs in their repertoires. Moreover, the observed female preferences for nonmatching neighbour and matching stranger song over nonmatching stranger song, suggest that any male with songs structurally similar to mate songs or even to nonmate but local neighbourhood songs, will be at an advantage in sexual interactions with local females. Copyright 1999 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.