Territorial songs and intraspecific evolution of East Asian Willow Tits (Parus montanus)

Territorial songs of 4 Asian Willow Tit subspecies namelyParus montanus kamtschatkensis, P. m. songarus, P. m. affinis andP. m. stoetzneri and in addition those of a southern outpost ofP. m. baicalensis are dealt with. These far-eastern subspecies use song types of their own, but nearly identical types may used by different geographical representatives, which are not closely related. The consequences for reconstructing the evolution of the Willow Tit complex by means of acoustical characters are discussed.