Imitation and Improvisation in Males

In this article we report that imitation and improvisation of tutor songs by eastern male cowbirds (Molothrus ater ater) differs when they are housed with conspecific females as opposed to nonconspecifics. When males, tutored with 12 different song types, were individually housed with females, they developed repertoires composed primarily of improvised and original song types, whereas the repertoires of males housed with canaries were composed entirely of copies of the tutor songs. Song preferences of the female companions for individual tutor songs were unaffected by social housing. The potency of the males' repertoires, as tested by playback to females, appeared to be related to the song responsiveness of their female companions. The results add further evidence that suggests that male cowbirds configure their song repertoire by attending to social signals from companions.