After its half a century activity at Shibuya, Tokyo, the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology has been opened on 1 December 1984 at its new site near lake Tega, Abiko City, Chiba Prefecture.
The lake Tega had been one of the four marshy lakes, Imba, Wada, Ushiku and Tega, which provided the most important winterquarters for waterfowl in central Honshu. Geese, the Bean and White-fronted, concentrated at lake Wada and ducks preferred Tega where joint duck-netting grounds existed since old tims. A pair of ducks caught were annually presented to Toyotomi and then Tokugawa Shogunates. The pochard, Aythya ferina was characteristic wintering species of the lake and many rare and accidental species of waterfowl had been obtained and observed, including Snow Goose, Canada Goose, Canvasback, Long-tailed Duck, Rudy Shelduck, etc.
After the world war II, ducks were persecuted by indiscriminate gun-hunters and traditional netting came to the end. Moreover, main area of waterfowl resort was reclaimed for rice fields.
However, remaining water surface is now protected from hunting and is still visited and inhabited by ducks, coots, moorhens and reed buntings, etc. The water pollution of lake Tega has been reputed as worst of lakes, but measures of water purification are being advanced. We saw and heard a green pheasant, an Ural owl and other birds in back-hill wood of new institute site, and it would be a tempting idea to have, in future, a waterfowl laboratory somewhere along the lake coast.

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1) Breeding biology of Leach's Storm-petrels Oceanodroma leucorhoa was studied On Daikoku Island(42°52'N, 144°52'E), Akkeshi, Hokkaido, between late April and late October, 1982. 2) Breeding parameters were the following: incubation period, 41.8 days; incubation spell, 2.9 days; chick growth rate (K), 0.078; chick asymptotic weight, 69g; fledging weight, 58.3g; fledging period, 61.2 days; adult weight, 48.5g; egg weight, 11.2g. 3) Chick survival rate was 92% in average. Nesting habitat, burrow depth, laying date and nearest nest distance did not influence chick survival. 4) Hatching success was 75% in average. Hatching success of eggs in deep burrows was higher than those in shallow ones. Early laid eggs had higher hatching success than late laid ones. 5) The petrels made deep burrow nests under Calamagrostis with complex root systems in which hatching success was high. 6) Hatching success was higher in the following order: Calamagrostis >Artemisia-Urtica>Petasites-Polygonum. However, habitat preference shown by burrow density was in the order, Artemisia-Urtica (1.69/m²)>Calamagrostis (0.80/m²)>Petasites-Polygonum (0.60/m²). 7) The petrel in suitable habitat (Calamagrostis) laid earlier than in less suitable habitats. This partly supports "Density limiting model" (Davies 1978).

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Pterodroma nigripennis and P. longirostris were observed in the Northwest Pacific during several cruises on R. V. Hakuho Maru from May to November between 1980 and 1984 (the north of 7°N, the west of 180°E). It can be deduced that P. nigripennis and P. longirostris fly regularly every year in the Northwest Pacific, and during these observations there were no species of smaller petrels to migrate in these areas except the above species including P. hypoleuca. With regard to the season of migration of P. nigripennis to the Northwest Pacific, they migrate to these areas in June-July, and in August-September there are great numbers in the waters southesast of Honsyu, then they return to the breeding islands after November. The favoured water temperature of P. nigripennis is in the range 25°-28°C, so it is surmised that they do not move in the waters off Sanriku to the north of 38°N. P. longirostris migrate to the waters far east of Honsyu in May-June and concentrically distribute in the waters off Sanriku between late July and September, in this season they were feeding mainly at the waters in front of Kuroshio Current, and then they beign to return to their breeding islands. The three smaller petrels occurred in areas where surface water temperatures ranged from 16°C to 31°C in June-September, P. nigripennis favour in areas with the highest water temperature in these species and P. hypoleuca next, but when these species distribute in the Northwest Pacific, they devide a feeding area for keeping away from competition. In the Northwest Pacific P. hypoleuca and P. nigripennis formed mixed groups with sea birds which the breeding islands or distribution areas are same with them, on the other hand P. longirostris formed large flocks with the storm petrels in having same feeding areas.

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Daily drinking patterns of budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) fed millet grain were studied. Further, they were tested to determine whether exogenous angiotensin I, II and III (AI, AII and AIII) induce drinking and whether plasma AII is physiologically involved in natural drinking behavior. Japanese quail, given the same food as the budgerigars, were also studied, by way of comparison. (1) Budgerigars drank a slightly more water shortly after beginning of the artificially illuminated day period at 07:00 than during the following few hours. A peak of drinking was reached at one hour before or after the light was turned off at 19:00. They drank during dark periods, with illumination of less than 0.1 lux. (2) Japanese quail reached a peak of drinking activity one hour (07:00 to 08:00) after the start of the artificial day period. Thereafter, drinking activity decreased, but it increased again from 14:00, toward the beginning of the dark period. They did not drink water during the dark period. (3) The budgerigars responded to i. p. injection of AII by drinking in a similar manner to the Japanese quail. In budgerigars, injection of AIII stimulated either negligible drinking, or did not stimulate any drinking. AI induced drinking and SQ14225 (Captopril, an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor) inhibited AI-induced drinking in budgerigars. (4) There was no significant correlation between the water intake and the plasma AII concentration in budgerigars. High doses of SQ14225 had either no or only slight effects on drinking activity in budgerigars, but clearly inhibited drinking in Japanese quail. (5) It may be concluded that variations in budgerigar plasma AII are probably not involved in or correlated with mechanisms inducing natural drinking, but in the Japanese quail plasma AII is associated with the physiological mechanisms of natural drinking.

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The distribution and food habits of the Common and Thick-billed Murres (Uria aalge and U. lomvia) were studied in the Gulf of Anadyr and northwestern Bering Sea during 1973. The total population in the Gulf of Anadyr consisted of 302068 Common Murres and 54986 Thick-billed Murres. The stomach contents of 794 murres were analyzed. The most important prey for both species was the pelagic amphipod Parathemisto libellula. Common Murres however also ate fish and euphausiids to a greater degree. Both species demonstrated some plasticity in their diets according to biological and environmental conditions.

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Dry weights of the tibiotarsus and femur marrows expressed as percentages of their fresh weights were found to be good indices of the physical condition of shorttailed shearwaters (Puffinus tenuirostris). Although the marrow values of tibiotarsus and femur were almost equal and did not differ by more than 10% of dry weight, the tibiotarsus may be more suited for nutritive evaluation, because it contains more marrow than the femur. The visual examination of marrow taken from the tibiotarsus and femur was reliable for discerning starved or nonstarved condition of the birds.

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