Most birds produce short, simple calls, but songbirds also have the ability of many complex vocal (发声的) patterns that help them attract mates, defend territory (领地), and strengthen their social bonds. Each songbird species has its own unique song patterns, some with characteristic regional dialects. Experienced listeners can even distinguish individual birds by their unique songs.

    A lot of what scientists know about bird song comes from studying zebra finches. A baby male zebra finch typically learns to sing from its father or other males, starting while it's still a baby bird in the nest. First comes the sensory learning stage, when the baby finch hears the songs sung around it and commits them to memory. The bird starts to vocalize during the motor learning stage, practicing until it can match the song it memorized. As the bird learns, hearing the tutor's song over and over again is helpful — up to a point. If it hears the song too many times, the imitation (模仿) becomes worse -- and the source matters. If the song is played through a loudspeaker, he can't pick it up as easily. But hide the same loudspeaker inside a toy painted to look like a zebra finch, and his learning improves.

    What if the baby never hears another zebra finch's song? Interestingly enough, it'll sing anyway. Isolated finches still produce what are calledinnate songsor isolate songs. A specific tune might be taught, but the instinct to sing seems to exist in a songbird's brain. Innate songs sound different from the “cultured” songs learned from other finches - at first. If isolate zebra finches start a new colony, the young birds pick up the isolate song from their fathers. But the song changes from generation to generation. And after a few generations, the melody actually starts to resemble the cultured songs sung by zebra finches in the wild.