Abstract
Playback experiments were used to investigate the signalling role of strophe length (the number of repeated phrases making up a song) to territorial male great tits, Parus major. There was no significant tendency for playback of songs with short and long strophes to elicit different strophe lengths in reply, although there was a weak tendency for longer strophes to be sung in reply to playback stimuli containing more song. Male strophe length did not differ significantly between playback stimuli designed to elicit weak responses (playback from territory boundary) and strong responses (playback from centre). However, there were significant correlations between the strophe length sung by a male during playback and his strength of response to each type of playback. These experiments support the idea that strophe length is a short-term indication of the ability and/or willingness of a male to respond aggressively to a territorial intruder.
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