The response of Western Meadowlarks (Sturnella neglecta) to the playback of undegraded and degraded songs

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Abstract
Male western meadowlawks (S. neglecta) respond more strongly to playback of undegraded songs than degraded songs when both are played at the same amplitude and from the same position in the territory. The differences in response is only found if the song played is of a type that is sung by the test bird. These results support the use of cues from sound degradation to estimate distance; they also support a mechanism of degradation assessment which requires familiarity with the stimulus. The role of acoustic and visual cues in distance estimation and a proposed function of song matching is discussed.