A consensus on the subspecific classification of Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) is not to be reached yet. The subspecies of Red Junglefowl have generally been classified according to their range, plumage and earlobe color. However these characters are all somewhat problematic. Red Junglefowl is usually found lurking in bushes. But this vegetation varies widely among the various climates that make up their extensive habitat, and it is possible that variations in Junglefowl plumage are caused by such differences in environment. Plumage color is also affected by breeding season. Furthermore the assessment of the plumage color is influenced by observation conditions and open to observer subjectivity. Red or white earlobe color has been used as an important index for subspecific classification. However, it has been reported that white earlobes are not a character expressed by a single gene. Moreover, white earlobe coloration varies considerably among white lobed individuals. Therefore, using earlobe color alone as the standard for subspecific classification is unsuitable. Of the five subspecies of G. gallus, G. g. murghi, G. g. jabouillei, and G. g. bankiva are unambiguously classified by size and plumage. Likewise the white earlobe of G. g. gallus distinguishes it from the red lobed G. g. spadiceus. Within G. g. gallus, however, two types of white earlobe coloration are found. G. g. gallus in Thailand has a complete white earlobe and G. g. gallus in Malaysia has an incomplete white earlobe. In both Malaysia and Thailand, populations of G. g. gallus are divided by the habitat of G. g. spadiceus. Yet despite geographical separation and different earlobe coloration, both types of G. g. gallus have until now been classified together. It is possible to divide G. g, gallus into two types using the character white earlobe 'complete' or 'incomplete'. Studies using mtDNA have similarly divided G. g. gallus into two types. Therefore, subspecific classification of Red Junglefowl should take into account new morphological information, geographical information, and results of molecular studies.

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The diving behavior and physiology of birds and mammals has been studied for more than a century. From the early 1940s many physiological studies of diving responses in the vascular system were conducted under forced-submerged conditions, despite it being known that the responses differed between voluntary diving and enforced-submerged animals. Accordingly, new attempts to study freely diving animals were begun. The first success was achieved in 1965 by Kooyman, who used a mechanical time depth recorder (TDR) to monitor the diving behavior of Weddell seals, Leptonychotes weddelli. Thereafter, in the 1980s marked advances in experimental apparatus revealed many unexpected diving abilities of penguins and seals. More recently, in addition to interest in their physiology, the foraging ecology of free diving animals has attracted considerable interest, and has stimulated the accelerated development and miniaturization of electronic data loggers. Currently, data loggers that record depth, swimming speed, light level, ambient, esophagus and body temperature, acceleration, geo-magnetic field, heart rate, ECG, EMG, visual image, etc., are available as tools to study foraging ecology, physiology and biomechanics. This technology has brought new advances in bio-logging science, which utilizes integrated microsystem technology to study the lives of animals in aquatic and other remote environments. This paper reviews recent technological advances in this field, with special attention to activities in Japan and the roles of these advances in the study of diving by marine animals.

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We examined chick provisioning rates of Streaked Shearwaters (Calonectris leucomelas) breeding on Sasudo Island, Korea for one to 18 chick-days. Adults remained with their chick for four days on average (range=1-6) after hatching, and foraging trip duration was 1.2±0.6 days. Nightly feed mass during brooding increased with chick age, but the total mass of food delivered to chicks was not increased through additional feedings during the day, most of which took place soon after hatching. Feed mass was smaller during brooding (31g) than early chick rearing (mean=40g), but the mass of food carried by brooding adults (mean=57g, n=22) was larger, and was allocated to feeding the chick (28g) and to their own maintenance (29g). When chicks were fed twice in the same night during chick rearing, they accepted less food from the second parent (mean=31g) than from the first (38g). However, the mass of feeds only fed once at night increased with chick age, implying that although the chicks did not eat all of the food presented by both parents at night, the chick's gut capacity and feed mass increased with chick growth. Overall, 91% of chicks were fed at least once per night with 1.2±0.6 feeds per day, and were fed less during brooding (0.8±0.4) than during chick rearing (1.3±0.6). Throughout the study period, parents probably adapted their provisioning rates according to the increase of the chick's demand, which may be represented by the chick's gut capacity.

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Several methods for determination of total protein (TP) concentrations in the plasma of Pintail (Anas acuta) captured in winter in Japan were compared. TP values determined using wet and dry chemistry analyses of biuret methods were 3.51±0.35g/dL and 3.49±0.35g/dL (mean ±SD), respectively. The correlation between TP values determined by these two analyses was significant (p<0.001, r=0.9763). These data can serve a reference value of the species in this season. The TP value determined by refractometry was 3.86±0.45g/dL and was about 10% higher than those obtained through wet or dry chemistry analyses. Correlations of refractometric values with those determined by wet and dry chemistry analyses were significant (p<0.001, r=0.9414 and p<0.001, r=0.9251, respectively). TP values obtained by refractometry could be converted to those obtained through wet chemistry analyses by the following equation:
y(g/dL)=0.738x(g/dL)+0.659
x=plasma TP values determined by refractometry
y=converted plasma TP values from refractometry to wet chemistry.

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Plasma protein electrophoresis was performed on 25 males and 25 female Pintails (Anas acuta) captured in the wild, and albumin and globulin fractions and albumin/globulin ratio (A/G) were obtained as the reference value of this species. The proportion of the albumin fraction in the protein was high (49.18±5.43%) and the prealbumin fraction was present (20.40±4.03%). The ratio of α1-, α2-, and β- and the γ- globulin fractions was 2.84±0.58%, 4.23±0.91%, 21.10±2.81% and 2.25±0.95%, respectively. The A/G ratio (2.33±0.40) determined by electrophoresis was higher than that obtained through blood chemistry using BCG method (0.38±0.03). Plasma protein electrophoresis and the A/G ratio determined through this method are useful for monitoring the physical conditions of wild Pintails.

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A five year survey from June 1998 until June 2003 in Yambaru Area, Okinawa, Japan recorded 22 mortalities and one seriously injured body of the Okinawa Rail Gallirallus okinawae. Road-kill was the largest single cause (72.7%: 16 of 22) of the recorded deaths. Analysis of the 17 traffic accident data (16 dead, and one injured body) of Okinawa Rail revealed how those accidents occurred. We found there were two major areas where the traffic accidents frequently happened. In both areas, the road is relatively straight and wide, so that vehicles there drive at high speed. Because of the Okinawa Rail is an almost flightless bird, the high speed driving directly leads to an increase in rail traffic accidents. The majority of the traffic accidents took place in May through June (64.7%: 11 of 17), which overlaps the breeding period of the Okinawa Rail.

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Two individuals of Varied Tit which looked like Parus varius varius. the main Japan islands subspecies, were observed on Miyake-jima Island (34°05'N, 139°32'E) in the Izu Islands in the winter of 1996-1997. Following capture and examination of their plumage and body dimensions, they were confirmed to be P. v. varius. These birds spent the 1996-1997 winter in the broad-leaved evergreen forest of the southern region of Miyake-jima Island, before migrating elsewhere in April, 1997. This is the first record of the subspecies P. v. varius within the geographical range of P. v. owstoni.

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A forest on the campus of Joetsu University of Education has been used as a roost (max 18, 054 birds), mainly by the Carrion Crow (Corvus corone), throughout the year for at least 25 years. However, in spring 2002, the university cut down part of the forest to make a carpark. To examine the effects of the felling of roosting forest on roost size and site, we estimated roost size and located roost sites in spring 2002 and winter 2002-2003, and also analyzed roosting data from six past winters. Spring roost size decreased after the roosting forest was cut down. However, it was unclear whether this decrease in roost size resulted from disturbance. The effect of the felling of roosting forest on roost site in the spring was clear, because crows established a new roost near the cutover area. The effect of felling of the forest on roost size from September 2002 to March 2003 was also uncertain because the roost size showed no marked decline and its range was within that of past data. In contrast, the effect of the disturbance on roost site was clear, because crows made new roosts near the cutover area late in October and used them from November to December when the roost size was large.

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The Sickle-billed Vanga Falculea palliata forages by probing its long and slender bill into cracks on the trunks and branches of trees. To determine the diet of adult and nestling Sickle-billed Vangas and the kinds of prey obtained with this foraging technique, six nests in the Ankarafantsika Strict Nature Reserve, western Madagascar, were observed during the November to December nestling periods in 1999 and 2000. Diet was investigated by direct observation. Of the 41 items of prey identified (out of 68 total prey items) in adult Sickle-billed Vangas, crickets, cockroaches, spiders, and grasshoppers constituted 29.3%, 19.5%, 17.1%, and 12.2%, respectively, of the prey items. These four groups together accounted for 78.0% of the identified prey. Parents delivered 1, 180 prey items to the nestlings. The most numerous food items were crickets, accounting for 41.6% of 262 identified prey, followed by cockroaches (21.4%) and grasshoppers (15.6%). These three groups together accounted for 78.6% of the identified prey. Sickle-billed Vangas never foraged on the ground but preferred dead trees of five metres or higher for foraging, and it is thus highly probable that all prey items were of arboreal origin. Arboreal cockroaches inhabit holes and cracks on dead trees and branches, and it is likely that Sickle-billed Vangas capture them primarily using the probing technique.

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In 1998 we studied the ranging and roosting behaviors of an adult male Grey-faced Buzzard in a low mountain region at Ogawa Town, central Saitama Prefecture, Japan. The male was confirmed to be breeding in early May when we started our survey, but failed in the breeding in early June (probably the late stage of incubation). The male was captured and fitted with a radio-transmitter. We radio-tracked the male from early May to late September (immediately before the migration). The home range size of the male was 0.60km² during the incubation period (May). After the breeding failure (June-July), the range size expanded to 5.03km² encompassing the whole range of the incubation period, and thereafter (August-September) it came to be 2.52km². The male did not roost at the same place on two successive days. During the incubation period the average distance between two roost sites on consecutive days was 184±106 SD m (N=3, range: 60-250m, SD=standard deviation), but thereafter increased to 1, 153±795 SD m (N=31, range: 80-2, 875m).

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The global distribution and status of colonies of the Streaked Shearwater (Calonectris leucomelas) were elucidated on the basis of a comprehensive survey of all published literature, of unpublished literature, and a specimen survey and interviews. Information on colony population size was also obtained. The species occurs or occurred on a total of 98 islands in East and South-east Asia; consisting of 86 islands where breeding occurs (breeding islands), 11 islands with a high likelihood of breeding occurring, and one island with a low likelihood of breeding occurring. The 86 breeding islands, including three on which breeding has definitely or possibly ceased, are located in the following seas from 24-42°N, 121-142°E; 30 islands (35%) in the Pacific, 20 (23%) in the Sea of Japan, 16 (19%) in the East China Sea, 9 (10%) in the Yellow Sea, 7 (8%) in Tsushima Strait, and 4 (5%) around Taiwan. Japan hosts 72 (84%) of the 86 islands, South Korea hosts 6, China hosts 4, North Korea hosts 2, and Russia and Taiwan host one each. Thus most of the breeding islands are located on the continental shelf in the seas surrounding the Japanese Archipelago, an area of high marine productivity. Information on present colony status was unavailable for 21 (24%) of the 86 breeding islands, most of which were in Japan. Streaked Shearwaters still breed on the remaining 62 (72%) islands (52 of which are in Japan) but probably no longer breed on the three other islands. Most (80%) of the 86 breeding islands are situated in temperate areas within the 5-20°C zone of average Spring (March) surface water temperatures; 42% of the islands within the 15-20°C zone, 20% within the 10-15°C zone and 19% within the 5-10°C zone. The remaining 20% are within the 20-25°C (10%) and 1-5°C (9%) zones. Streaked Shearwater populations have recently tended to increase rapidly in the higher latitudes for this species (38-40°N) within the 5-10°C zone in the subarctic boundary between the warmer and colder currents in the northwest Pacific, where about 100, 000 birds breed on the uninhabited islands.
Breeding activities largely take place on those islands with a large Streaked Shearwaters population, which corresponds to about 30% of the breeding islands, while only 1-2% of the breeding population breed on the remaining 70% of islands hosting small or medium-size populations. The number of breeding birds on 36 islands (excluding Mikura Island, which has by far the largest population), was recently estimated as 816, 000 birds. As the Mikura Island total was roughly estimated to be 1, 750, 000-3, 500, 000 birds, the total number of Streaked Shearwaters breeding on the 37 islands amounted to 2, 566, 000-4, 316, 000 birds. Further population surveys of the Mikura Island population are needed, as this single estimate greatly influences the size of the estimated world population for this species. Up-to-date information on the status and distribution of Chinese and Korean populations of the Streaked Shearwater is also desired, as both countries have many offshore islands near the breeding zone for the species.

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Within Japan, the Japanese Quail Coturnix japonica is bird species familiar to many people. It was first designated as a game species in 1918, and has been captive-bred and released into the wild since the early 1970s. An examination of the annual numbers of quails hunted, based on Wildlife Statistics data and other literature sources, indicates that the population level of Japanese Quail started to decline in the 1930s, and has subsequently shown a dramatic decrease. Japanese Quail is thought to have no harmful effects on agriculture, and has retained its status as a game species solely owing to its value as a hunting target. In 1998 the Japanese Quail was listed as DD (Data Deficient) on the Japanese Red List, and its designation as a game species should therefore be reconsidered as soon as possible. For the Japanese Quail population to recover from its from endangered status a combination of stricter hunting regulations and the active restoration of suitable habitat is urgently required.

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[in Japanese]

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Recently albatrosses have been reclassified from the previously recognized 14 species to 24 species based on mitochondrial DNA sequences (Robertson & Nunn 1998). The new 24 species are composed of 4 phylogenetic groups-North Pacific Albatrosses (Phoebastria), the Great Albatrosses (Diomedea), the Sooty Albatrosses (Phoebetria), and the Southern Mollymawks (Thalassarche). We recommend provisional Japanese common names till final verification of albatross taxonomy is authorized.

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