The University of Kyoto has dispatched a scientific exploration party to the north side areas of Nassau Mountains, West New Guinea, between November, 1963 and March, 1964. Dr. Taian Kato, the leader of the party collected sixty six (66) specimens of birds belonging to 39 species at the following four localties.
(A) Area along the upper reaches of Kemabu River, between Homeo and Ugimba (elevation 3, 000-3, 500m).
(B) Dogabu River, chiefly in the vicinity of Hitariba (elevation 1, 700-2, 500m).
(C) Area along Dogabu River, near Beoga (elevation 1, 700-2, 500m).
(D) Area along the upper reaches of Kemabu River, in the northern skirt of Carstenz Top (elevation 3, 500-4, 000m).
Annotated list of the following species is given with localities, measurements and notes:
Excalfactoria chinensis novaeguineae, Anurophasis monorthonyx, Rallus pectoralis captus, Gallinago megala, Macropygia n. nigrirostris, Psittacella modesta subcollaris, P. lorentzi, Eurostopodes archiboldi, Collocalia vanikorensis granti, Anthus gutturalis wollestoni, Turdus poliocephalus versteegi, Crateroscelis robusta sanfordi, Sericornis beccarii idenburgi, S. a. arfakianus Megalurus timoriensis macrurus, Rhipidula a. atra, R. brachyrhyncha devisi, Machaerirhynchus nigripectus saturatus, M. flaviventer albigula, Microeca papuana, Poecilodryas albonotata griseiventris, Pachycephalopsis poliosoma approximans, Pachycephala schlegelii viridipectus, Pitohui dichrous monticola, Paradigala brevicauda, Lophorina superba feminina, Myzomela r. rosenbergii, Toxorhamphus poliopterus maximus, Melidectes nouhuysi, M. belfordi kinneari, Oreornis subfrenatus melanolaema, Ptiloprora erythropleura dammermani, Dicaeum geelvinkianum setekwa, Pristorhamphus vesteri meeki, Paramythia montium olivaceum, Zosterops f. fuscicapilla, Lonchura teerinki, Erythrura trichroa sigillifera and Oreostruthus fuliginosus pallida.

View full abstract

The 5th year result, April 1969-March 1970, of monthly 2 hour bird census in the Imperial Palace, along a same route of 4.1km, is reported. The route includes pond areas with winter duck resort and summer heron colony. Total of monthly recorded species varied from 18 (June) to 31 (April), with average of 23.2. The number of birds recorded were 264-718, av. 439.2. Total number of species so far known from the Palace is 75 of which 48 were recorded in the period with only one addition, Japanese Robin which occurred on migration.
Seasonal fluctuation of the number of Great Tit during the past five years, their flock sizes by month, their winter feeding sites, etc., fruits and seeds eaten by birds, records of dead birds found and short accounts on some species are added.

View full abstract

During the period covered by this report, April 1, 1968 to March 31, 1969, total of 19, 759 birds, 139 species were ringed at 34 localities in 21 prefectures of Japan and Southern China Sea. The number of birds ringed and released is shown in Table 1. The names of principal ringing sites and cooperating ringers are shown respectively in Table 2 and Table 3. Recoveries of birds ringed by our ringing team and its cooperators are totalled to 100 birds of 20 species, of which 21 individuals of 5 species were reported from foreign territories. Those recovered at or in close proximity to places where ringed, and less than 6 months after ringed, are not described here. Furthermore, those of Motacilla alba and Delichon urbica recovered at the ringing places, even in case of more than one year after ringed, are also excluded. Recoveries of birds ringed by the ringing team of the Forestry Experiment Station, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry are mentioned in Appendix, but their ringing information are not described in this bulletin. During this period, recoveries of 14 birds of 5 species ringed abroad were reported from the interior Japan. Among these, the specially interested are, one Anas acuta ringed in California, U. S. A. and three Sterna fuscata which were ringed at Midway Atoll, U. S. A. and blown to Kochi Prefecture by a typhoon.

View full abstract

Although white and grey forms had long been known in Japanese Crested Ibis Nipponia nippon, its scarcity prevented detailed research. Contrary to a former opinion that these were color phases, Mr. H. Sato (1957) considered them as seasonal forms and later suggested (1968) that the grey form is caused by cosmetic coloration toward breeding season.
This paper presents a detailed analysis on the mechanism of this type of color change based on numerous feather samples offered to Yamashina Institute by Mr. Y. Muramoto who collected them in its natural habitat in Ishikawa for many years. Supplemental observations were made with live birds in Sado I. with valuable assistance of Messrs. K. Chikatsuji and T. Takano of Ibis protection Center. Histological studies were made by the author at Department of Zoology, Tokyo University.
Some important points clarified in this paper are as follows:
1. The feather samples suggested neither of the known types of color change: 1) molting, 2) abrasion, 3) cosmetic staining with color substance in preen oil, 4) photo chemical change of biochrome in the feather, and 5) external staining (e. g. iron in water birds).
2. Under the feathers surrounding the naked face of Japanese Crested Ibis, a particular area of the skin was found producing 'black substance.' (Fig. 12).
3. A few tiny samples of this black substance fell on the snow when a captive ibis scratched that region of the head (Fig. 13, 14). These could be collected and used for chemical analysis (to be published elsewhere).
4. Prior to the breeding season, in late January through February, a characteristic behavior of rubbing the side of its head to the shoulder region was observed after bathing. This was named 'daubing behavior' (Fig. 16) and it lasted 20-30 minutes followed by normal preening.
5. The grey, or rather blackish, tint of the neck to shoulder region got deeper as the 'daubing behavior' was repeated.
6. Histologically, it was proved that the grey tint was caused by external adherance of 'black substance' to the proximal (not distal) barbules of the normal white feathers (Fig. 4-10).
7. The black substance on the feathers and those picked up after head scsatching were identical microscopically and chemically. These are supposed to come out along feather pores of the skin, since the feathers of the black substance producing area had black ring near the root of the rachis (Fig. 2, 9, 10).
8. The change from grey to white form occurred by normal post-nuptial molting (Fig. 17) and neither 'daubing behavior' nor dropping of black substance was observed after bathing in this period.
9. The 'daubing behavior' was so important in this new type of plumage color change that even during the critical period of change from white to grey form, the white plumage remained untinted unless this behavior was performed, which always occurred after bathing. Five to six bathing-'daubing behavior' sequences completed a typical grey form. The first bathing of the season was observed on a fine day in late January.
10. Physio-ethological mechanisms and the hormonal control involved were analysed (Fig. 20) and significance of the grey form was discussed eco-evolutionarily.

View full abstract

Thirteen examples of Corvus levaillantii japonensis obtained in Tokyo, May 27, 28, 1969, were measured, and examined anatomically.
1. Sex ratio was even, being 6_??__??_, 7_??__??_, and one of the each sex retained Bulsa of Fabricius (the famale example examined still showed a small non-pneumatic part of the skull). These, and perhaps one other male, were young of the previous year. Others were probably non-breeding 2nd year subadults, having little developed gonads in this season (Least developed in the above young of the year). One of the famale was a breeding adult having incubation patch.
2. They had little or almost no fat, except one young male which ate more animal food.
3. Body weight and all external measurements were larger in the male, and this difference was expressed by 'sexual index', S. I. which is: smaller measurement/larger measurement % (positive value in _??_>_??_, and negative in _??_>_??_), and its significance was discussed. This index ranged 88.94% (Body weight)-98.33% (Tail 1.) and all were positive.
4. In one example, the total pectoralis was 14.82% of body weight, the femoral muscles 5.66% and tibial 5.50%.
5. Length of intestine was average 882.0mm in 5_??__??_, 895.7mm in 7 _??__??_ and 'intestine index', ³√body weight/length of intestine, was calculated, which was 0.101 in the male and 0.100 in the femal. The caeca were 15-16mm. The gizzard was av. 38×28mm in size and 10.5g (1.4% of body weight) and the liver in one example was 2.74% of body weight.
6. Most gizzard and intestine (4 examples examined) contained cherry berries (their stones) with other items such as toad's part, beetles, pigeon eggshell, bird feathers and animal hairs (probably chair material) or cake piece, etc. In observation toad and rat are favored food items beside human food debris.
7. Two species of Cestodes, Passerilepis sp. and Raillietina sp. were found in all of four intestines examined (not found in the gizzard) and the numbers were counted by individual length and by its sum, i. e.: the 'total parasite length'. Younger bird (with Bulsa of Fabricius) had total parasite length of only 10cm and the intestine was clean, while others had from 85cm (scattered along the intestine wall), 137.2cm (clustered at the middle) to 191.7cm (found as two clusters) in an adult female with incubation patch. The individual length was also increasingly longer.
8. The parasite's number and total parasite length thus increase with the age of the bird and this might affect the bird's longevity or mortality. The Acanthocephala usually to be found in suburban crows (possibly C. corone) was not found and this reflects that C. levaillantii in Tokyo is permanent resident within the city zone.

View full abstract

1. This paper deals with the structure and distribution of breeding territories of Emberiza yessoensis, under high population density. The study was conducted in May-June (6 days), 1969, on the marshy grassland along the shore of Lake Kasumi, Ibaraki, Japan.
2. Under a high breeding population density, there were two distinct areas, one the breeding colony and the other the surrounding common feeding ground. The population density in a breeding colony was 7.67 birds/ha., but if the area of the common feeding ground were added in the breeding area, it was 1.48 birds/ha.
3. The territories of a few pairs were found assembled in a group. This group formed a settling unit with nests at the central part but spaced out by actual combats of the males, whose singing activities were made at the outer part of each territory so as to protect the grouped nests and females.
4. Common feeding grounds encircled the nesting colony and each individual flew to separate feeding sites 20 to 700m apart from the nesting sites. There was no correlation in relation to flying direction even between members of a pair.
5. The breeding colony was located in a marshy grassland of Ischaemum aristatum, but the feeding sites were in weeds along paths of extensive paddy field. This can be said to be an example of a loose colony of Lack (1968).
6. The inner they settled within a colony, the smaller were their clutch size, brood size and egg weights because they needed greater distances to fly out to feeding ground with expenditure of greater energy. Thus, the resources were not shared equally by each pair.

View full abstract

1. This report deals with the breeding biology of Emberiza cioides, and is based on the results of field observations from 1965 to 1967 in Nagano, Honshu.
2. Several adjacent pairs begin nesting very synchronously between late April and early May.
3. The nest is built by female only and is completed by 6 days on the average. Nesting period may be as long as 9 days for some early nesters, but only about 3 days for late breeders.
4. The nest is just placed on the ground or twig, not tangled. Female first builds outer parts of nest and goes on to lining. The frequency of carrying lining material is lower than for outer material. Copulation takes place mainly on the ground during lining period.
5. When the chicks and eggs are eaten by predators, another nest is attempted at once. Later nests are built at average 29 meters apart from preceding one.
6. Most of the nests are found on the ground or in the bushes below 1 meter, and later nests tend to be built off the ground.
7. Eggs of a clutch are laid daily in the eary morning (5:00-6:00 A.M.), the average size being 4.4 and decreases with the progress of the breeding season.
8. Females begin incubation on the day the last egg is laid, and incubation period is 11.16 days on the average. On and off sessions in daytime are average 58.3 and 22.5min. respectively. Constancy rate of incubation (Skutch 1962) is 67.3%. Feeding to female by the male is not observed either on or near the nest.
9. Female mainly broods the chicks about 15min. after each feeding, and does so until the chicks are about 6 days-old.
10. The period of nestling is about 11 days. In this period, the male and female, take the equal share of feeding. The frequency of feeding per one chick is 0.45 (average) per hour, but a little less in the early and later periods.
11. After leaving nest chicks are shared by parents for feeding and remain from 25 to 29 days in the home-range. After the family flock have broken up the female at once begins nest-building for the second brood.
12. In Otagiri, Nagano, the most important factor of population regulation of Emberiza cioides in breeding reason is a low hatching rate caused by predators. Breeding success per eggs laid is 20-35%.

View full abstract

1. The breeding ecology of Cettia diphone was investigated in an area of 0.44km² at Chusha, Togakushi Height, Nagano Prefecture in 1968 and 1969.
2. The study area was about 1200m above sea level, with larch and deciduous forest (Quercus mongolica var. grosseserrata, Betula platyphylla var. japonica and etc.), the forest floor beiing richly covered by Sasa kurilensis.
3. Cettia diphone arrived in study area in the middle of April and lived until mid-October in the bush with abundant Sasa kurilensis. Its population density determined by line transect census was about 147birds/km².
4. The eggs, 4-6 a clutch, are laid daily in the early morning.
5. The female alone incubated during 16 days until all the eggs hatched. The chicks were brooded and fed by female alone, and left the nest at the age of 14 days.
6. Throughout the breeding season the home range of the male, measured by time-mapping method, was rather stable and was the same as the song area.
7. The song area of the male was restricted to higher parts of a tree. But, its living area was distributed within all bights of a tree.

View full abstract

1. The ecological separation of sympatric Paridae in central Japan is analyzed by the comparisons of feeding sites and foods for five species: Aegithalos caudatus, Parus major, P. ater, P. montanus and P. varius.
2. The ecological separation in Paridae is more conspicuous in the winter than summer.
3. The striking co-existence in the broad-leaved deciduous trees and planted larch was found between Ae. caudatus and P. major. These two species divide the upper and lower strata, the external and internal parts, and the twigs and the branches to trunk in trees.
4. In the canopy, the co-existence of Ae. caudatus and P. ater is remarkable. Each two species prefers different tree species, and different positions in the branches. Moreover, in the larch, the status of Ae. caudatus is stable while P. ater is unstable. This becomes more apparent at critical periods when the twigs are covered with snow or ice.
5. In the evergreen forest of south-western Japan, the co-existence of P. major and P. varius is remarkable. These two species divide the upper and lower strata in the forest. The status of P. varius in the trees is equivalent to P. caeruleus in Europe.
6. In sub-alpine zone, the separation between P. ater and P. montanus in the mixed forest is for the tree species. The former prefers the coniferous trees and is a migrant influenced by the production of resources. The latter prefers the lower strata and the dead branches, and is resident.
7. The foods of Ae. caudatus differ from the genus Parus which feeds on the coniferous seeds in autumn to winter. Each species of Parus has diets different in size and items.
8. P. ater, P. montanus and P. varius have food storing behavior while the other two species have not. In the sub-alpine zone, the storing sites and foods of P. ater differ from that of P. montanus. Moreover, the biological significance of the storing behaviors of both species varies. In P. ater which is locally migratory the habit is correlated with the storing of food when the local production is at its hight, while in resident P. montanus the habit is advantageous for securing constant food supply. In addition to these, P. montanus conceals the seeds of various harbs and the colored berries.
9. The ecological separation of Paridae is sharp and complex in the forest canopy but at lower strata it is simple being used only by few species.

View full abstract

1. Observations of mixed flocks of tits were made during 1962 and 1963, at the Botanical Garden of Tôhoku University in Sendai. The foraging layers by species composing mixed flocks and their mutual correlations were especially noticed and it was found that presence or absence of Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus trivirgatus affected the flock behavior of other species.
2. Similar results were obtained in the different habitat, Kagitori district near the Botanical Garden. In both habitats, floral analyses and measurements of forest layers were made.
3. The preferred foraging layers differed significantly by four species of tits. Long-tailed Tit and Willow Tit Parus atricapillus (montanus) restrictus foraged principally within the lower conifers and the upper part of deciduous trees, in which vegetational cover was dense.
4. Long-tailed Tit and Great Tit Parus major minor showed a marked seasonal change in foraging height. Only the Great Tit is the ground feeder at least in late fall and winter. Coal Tit Parus ater insularis is found in the upper part of the conifer.
5. The foraging layer of a species differed in mixed flocks with or without the Long-tailed Tit. When with Long-tailed Tit, the Great and Coal Tits were attracted by the Long-tailed, and when without it, the Great and Willow Tits were attracted by the Coal Tit and followed it. There were same relationships in Kagitori habitat.
6. It was suggested that by forming a mixed flock, each species, except Long-tailed Tit, would have advantage to forage in wider range of forest layers, attracted by and following the the leading species.

View full abstract

1. Behaviors of mixed flocks of tits, Parus major, P. montanus, P. ater and Aegithalos caudatus, were analysed in relation to their vertical working layers, movements, unison and breaking-up of species groups. This study was conducted in the Botanical Garden of Tôhoku University during April, 1961 and February, 1963.
2. Each species group of a mixed flock differs in their vertical distributions. Movements of mixed flocks could de classified into: drifting movement, integrated movement and other various types.
Such movements were affected by vegetation types and composition of the flock, especially with or without Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus.
3. The speed of movement of a mixed flock with Long-tailed Tit differed from that without this tit. The former moved with the speed same as that (267 to 864m/hour) of a single flock of the Long-tailed Tit; while the latter moved with the speed (100m/hour) same as a flock of the Great Tit Parus major.
4. Breaking-up of mixed flocks were noted frequently during the fall to early spring. Several causes of such breaking-up of the mixed flock were analysed and this occurred more frequently in the mixed flock with than without the Long-tailed Tit.
Thus the beaking-up of mixed flock seemed to be due to the rapid drifting movement of the Long-tailed Tit.
5. Therefore, the Long-tailed Tit played a role of the leader of a mixed flock, but when without this tit, the substitute species was not clear.

View full abstract

1. Results of investigations of seabird colonies on Nakanogami I., 16km SW of Iriomote I., S. Ryukyus, made by the author on 8 June, 1965 and 8 Aug. 1967, are reported, with notes on the geology, fauna, flora and history of research.
2. The seabird colonies, with the estimated population of some 50, 000 birds, consisted of Sterna fuscata 75%, Calonectris leucomelas 15%, Anous stolidus 7%, Sula leucogaster 3%, and Sula dactylatra and Sterna sumatrana were observed. Albatrosses, formerly reported were not found.
3. This island is of particular importance, along with Senkaku Is., as a seabird breeding place in the Ryukyu chain and has been authorized as a Natural Monument, as the result of this investigation.
4. Being close to Iriomote I., it is easier for protective control than Senkaku Is. But egg-poachers from surrounding islands are still causing considerable damage and protective measure should be taken seriously.

View full abstract

1. During the 32nd training cruise of the "Umitaka Maru" in the East China Sea in early April, 1968, bird observations were made by the author and his assistants.
2. A total of 150 sightings were made half-hourly in the daytime from 1600hrs, April 2 to 2000hrs, April 8, 1968.
3. Five species of sea-birds, Streaked Shearwater, Red-necked Phalarope, Pink-footed Sheawater, Pomarine Skua and Gull, and five species of land-birds, House Swallow, Pied Wagtail, Pale Ouzel and Wren were sighted.
4. Streaked Shearwater distributed mainly in the warm waters of the Kuroshio stream, whereas Red-necked Phalarope in rather colder waters of the Yellow Sea water mass. Both species were observed in larger numbers around "tide rips" formed by the two water masses.
5. The numbers of House Swallow seen around the ship seem to have nothing to do with area of clouds. The exhausted ones, in general, came into the ship with the northerly winds and rain. The western extremity of their migratory route seemed to be demarcated by the western margin of the Kuroshio.

View full abstract