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About the Cover
Cover: The avian vocal organ, the syrinx, is a complex bipartite structure situated where the connecting tubes to the lungs (the bronchi) join the windpipe (the trachea). This schematic ventro-lateral view shows the six pairs of syringeal muscles in a songbird syrinx. In anaesthetised birds, the action of single syringeal muscles was observed directly by stimulating the muscles electrically while video-recording the syrinx through an endoscope (see Larsen and Goller, pp. 25-35). External endoscopic views show the movement of the entire syrinx during vocalisation, while internal views reveal which muscles cause opening, closing and tensing of the syringeal valves.
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