ABSTRACT
There are no adequate mammalian models for studying the relation between auditory perception and the ontogeny of a learned vocal repertoire. Oscine song birds remain the best model for investigating many of these processes that at one time seemed to be uniquely human. Indeed, over the years, the comparative approach to the study of vocal ontogeny in birds has provided a disproportionate number of insights into the development of complex behavior including acoustic communication. This approach is best exemplified by the work of Marler and his colleagues on two congeneric species of sparrow-the swamp sparrow and the song sparrow.
