Involvement of a midbrain vocal nucleus in the production of both the acoustic and postural components of crowing behavior in Japanese quail

Many bird species produce vocalizations which are accompanied by distinctive postural displays, but the neural mechanisms that allow such integrated production of vocal and postural motor patterns are not understood. In the crowing behavior of Japanese quail, a characteristic vocal pattern is accompanied by and coordinated with a postural display that consists of a sequence of rapid, patterned head movements. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of a midbrain vocal nucleus, the nucleus intercollicularis, in the production of the acoustic and postural components of crowing in quail. Brief electrical stimuli were applied to the nucleus intercollicularis during spontaneously emitted crows in quail with chronically implanted electrodes, to determine if perturbing neural activity in the nucleus intercollicularis resulted in a disruption of ongoing crowing behavior. The most common effect of such stimuli was a concurrent, premature termination of both the acoustic and head movement components of the crow. These results imply that the nucleus intercollicularis plays a role in the production of both the acoustic and postural components of crowing in quail.