释义 |
oscine /ˈɒsʌɪn / /ˈɒsɪn/Ornithology adjectiveRelating to or denoting passerine birds of a large division that includes the songbirds. Compare with suboscine.- Suborder Oscines, order Passeriformes.
The ability of territorial oscine males to discriminate between songs of neighbors and strangers has received considerable attention, but this phenomenon is virtually unstudied in suboscines....- A possible explanation for this apparent limited interest is that oscine song, the dominant model for avian acoustic studies, is learned.
- In many oscine species, song or syllable repertoire size increases from young to older birds, although not in all studies.
nounAn oscine bird.Cracraft shows an unresolved three-way split between oscines (which form the large majority of passerine birds), suboscines, and New Zealand wrens....- In addition, intrinsic individual variation, including learned cultural differences in oscines, provides the raw material for vocal divergence through drift or selection.
- Blue-throated Hummingbirds show convergence with oscines in vocal complexity, song organization, song function, and possible learning of some song elements.
Origin Late 19th century: from Latin oscen, oscin- 'songbird' + -ine1. |