ASSESSING VOCAL VARIETY IN THE WINTER WREN, A BIRD WITH A COMPLEX REPERTOIRE

The song of the Winter Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) varies in a comp lex fashion in both time and space. An average of 21 song types occurr ed in males recorded on at least two mornings; these song types includ ed many variants. Syllables within songs were not arranged randomly, a s those that belong to certain syllable types based on acoustic shape were more likely to be used in the introductory portion of the song. P robabilities of transition among syllable types for consecutive syllab les were uneven but consistent between years. The repertoire of song t ypes is probably not fixed but varies in its constituent song types bo th through the breeding season and between years.