Similarity of the song nuclei of male and female Australian magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen).

The organisation of the song control nuclei of the Australian magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen), a species with highly complex song, was investigated. In contrast to most of the songbirds studied so far, the Australian magpie sings throughout the year and both males and females sing. All of the forebrain song nuclei, including the high vocal centre (HVC), the robust nucleus of the archistriatum (RA), Area X and the lateral and medial magnocellular nuclei of the anterior neostriatum (lMAN and mMAN) were found to be well developed in both male and female magpies. Consistent with the known vocal competence of juvenile magpies, all of the song nuclei were also well-developed in juvenile magpies (2--3 months old). HVC in both male and female magpies consists of a rostrolateral and a caudomedial region. The ventromedial part of RA differs from the dorsolateral part by having medium-sized neurons packed in higher density. The HVC to RA projections were labelled anterogradely by DiI and DiA. However, no HVC to Area X projections were labeled by DiI or DiA, suggesting a possible difference from songbirds studied previously.