The Australian Magpie ('Gymnorhina tibicen'): An alternative model for the study of songbird neurobiology

During the past half century the song control system has become a model for the study of vocal development in birds and humans. One species in particular, the Australian zebra finch, because it adapts easily to a laboratory environment, has been most widely used as a subject in these studies. Indeed the properties of zebra finch songs, and those of a few other species (see Williams, this volume) have come to define what most researchers mean by birdsong. Based on such models, birdsong is generally understood as vocalizations "crystallized" into adult form and performed by males during the breeding season (Williams, 2004, and this volume). Rehearsal for such song acquisition by male juveniles is usually described as "subsong", developing into very variable song, known as "plastic song", before stabilizing into its adult form in the next breeding season (Hultsch and Todt, 1989c, and this volume).