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Songbirds have been regarded as an important model system in the field of animal communication focusing mainly on songs by male birds. However, the occurrence, structure and sociobiological significance of song in female birds have been a long-neglected field. We describe here the structure and context of female song in a tropical avian species, the Pied Bush Chat (Saxicola caprata). All the females sang occasionally prior to nest-building through egglaying and rarely during incubation. We did not find significant difference in any of the song type characteristics of the female song when compared with male. However, mean song repertoire size for females was significantly smaller than males. Females sang during aggressive interactions with floater or neighbouring females. Females also sang during intersexual vocal communication through song-answering. Observations suggest that females use song for mate defence and probably to convey some pair bond information to the mate. This study provides evidence for the occurrence of female song in the Pied Bush Chat which has otherwise been widely overlooked so far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]