There are three distinct ways nightingales sing and countersing to each other, beginning late at night and ending by dawn in the first weeks of spring. Most males are ‘inserters,’ meaning that they wait about one second after a neighbor’s song finishes before starting their own. Songs alternate between one bird and another. Then there are ‘overlappers,’ who start their song about one second after their neighbor begins, as if to cover up or jam the neighbor’s signal. It may be some kind of threat or a mask of the first song, cutting into his air time. Then there are ‘autonomous singers,’ who sing and sing according to their own schedule, paying no heed to what any nearby nightingales are doing. Sounds like a good analysis of the three kinds of jazz musicians one might run into on the stage: the one who give you space and trades choruses, another who tries to interrupt everything you do, and finally the boss who cares about no one’s licks but his own.