RESPONSES OF COLLARED DOVES TO PLAYBACK OF COOS

Dove coos are assumed to play an important role in territorial defence and mate attraction, Playback experiments of coos may provide insight into their information content. In a pilot experiment, territorial ma les responded strongly to playback of perch coos. We were able to quan tify the response by three behavioural measurements. A second series o f playback showed that the experimental set-up and the behavioural mea surements were suitable to demonstrate the perception of a difference between two distinctive versions of a perch coo. A stronger response w as elicited by coos containing modulated elements.