@article {Searcy:May 2008:0340-5443:1213,
	author = "Searcy, William",
	author = "Anderson, Rindy",
	author = "Nowicki, Stephen",
	title = "Is bird song a reliable signal of aggressive intent? A reply",
	journal = "Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology",
	volume = "62",
	year = "May 2008",
	abstract = "We advocate assessing the reliability of signals of aggressive intent by eliciting aggressive signaling from a subject, giving the subject an opportunity to attack a model, and testing whether the subject's displays predict a subsequent attack. Using this design, we found that most singing behaviors are poor predictors of attack in song sparrows (<I>Melospiza melodia</I>). Laidre and Vehrencamp (<I>Behav Ecol Sociobiol</I>, DOI 10.1007/s00265-007-0539-3, 2008) suggested altering our experimental design to make the model more realistic; it remains to be seen whether such design changes would change the association between display and attack. Laidre and Vehrencamp (<I>Behav Ecol Sociobiol</I>, DOI 10.1007/s00265-007-0539-3, 2008) also suggested that the reliability of soft song, the one display that predicts attack in song sparrows, can be explained by a vulnerability cost. We question the rationale for a vulnerability cost for this display and suggest instead that soft song has a competing functions cost, in that, by using soft song to counter an intruder, a male sacrifices other possible functions of vocal signaling.",
	pages = "1213-1216(4)",
	url = "http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/klu/265/2008/00000062/00000007/00000569"
	doi = "doi:10.1007/s00265-008-0569-5"
}