The HVC is a nucleus in the brain of the songbirds (order passeriformes) necessary for both the learning and the production of bird song

Bird song

Bird vocalization includes both bird calls and bird songs. In non-technical use, bird songs are the bird sounds that are melodious to the human ear. In ornithology and birding, songs are distinguished by function from calls.-Definition:The distinction between songs and calls is based upon...

. It is located in the lateral caudal nidopallium

Nidopallium

The nidopallium, meaning nested pallium, is the region of the avian brain that is used mostly for some types of executive functions but also other higher cognitive tasks...

 and has projections to both the direct and the anterior forebrain pathways.

It is notable that both of the other orders of birds that learn song, the hummingbirds and parrots, also seem to have structures similar to the HVC. Since it is believed that all three of these groups independently derived the ability to learn song, it is believed that these other HVC-like structures are examples of homoplasy.

Nomenclature

The HVC was originally called the hyperstriatum ventrale, pars caudalis, higher vocal centre or HVc. When the nomenclature of the avian brain was revised in 2004, however, for various reasons these names were dropped. In order to keep the same acronym the structure was renamed HVC. The acronym HVC now is the official name for the region, despite no longer standing for anything.