This is the 10th annual report of monthly (except July, August, January) census in the Imperial Palace area in Tokyo from April 1974 to March 1975. The same route of 4.1km was censused from about 9.40 to 11.30 a.m, as in previous years. Two basic tables of the same order of bird species were used, as usual, only to add at the end additional species newly recorded for the year. One table tabulates the bird records for wooded area with small ponds, the other for an area with big moats used as duck resort in winter and heronry in summer.
The numbers of species and individuals recorded per one census day ranged 16-33 (av. 26.2) species and 236-950 (av. 610.1) birds, which were slightly higher than in the previous year, mainly because of greater numbers of herons (E. garzetta and N. nycticorax) in this year, but otherwise bird numbers and species were stable. The total number of species recorded for 1974 was 48 which was 52.7% of the species so far recorded (91 species).
In this year (1974) only two species (Accipiter nisus and Dendrocopos kizuki) were added to the bird list of the Imperial Palace area. It is to be noted that Alcedo atthis, which disappeared since 1963 and reoccurred in 1973, was registered also this year. As in previous reports some observational records on the flock size, family group and nest-box utilization, etc. of the great tit and green pheasant were tabulated for annual comparison. Only one eastern turtle dove was the example of dead bird during the census period.

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During the period covered by this report, April 1, 1971 to March 31, 1972, total of 16, 744 birds, 112 species were ringed at 18 prefectures of Japan. 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 142 birds of 30 species, of which 28 individuals of 15 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 caes 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 13 birds of 6 species ringed abroad were reported from the interior Japan. Besides these, one recovery of Diomeda exulans was reported from a Japanese fishing boat on the sea off the coast of southeastern Australia. This bird was banded at Kerquelen Island.

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During the period covered by this report, April 1, 1972 to March 31, 1973, total of 27, 543 birds, 113 species were ringed at 16 ringing stations and 6 other localities in 18 prefectures of Japan. The number of birds ringed and released is shown in Table 1. The names of localities of the ringing stations and the cooperating ringers are shown respectively in Table 2 and Table 3. Recoveries of birds ringed by our ringing teams and the cooperators are totalled to 126 birds of 28 species, of which 32 individuals of 8 species were reported from foreign territories. Those recovered at or in close proximity to the places where birds were ringed, and those less than 9 months after ringed, are not described here. Furthermore, those of Motacilla alba and Delichon urbica which were recovered at the ringing places, even though more than one year after ringed, are also excluded. Recoveries of birds ringed by the ringing team of the Forestry Experimental 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 32 birds of 8 species ringed abroad were reported from the interior Japan.

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1. Eight nests of the Chinese Sparrow Hawk Accipter soloensis, breeding in the area of about 60.8 ha in the Kwangneung Forest, Chincheop-myeon, Yangju-gun, Kyeonggi-do, were kept under observation for 42 days from 25 June to 25 August 1974, supplemented by post-breeding census from 27 August to 17 September 1974.
2. Nests were found at an average height of 11.7m, on branches, protruding horizontally from the middle of trunk. They were tray-shaped, with average size of 39.5×34.6cm (the exterior diameter)×17.1cm (height), and average weight 661gm. Eggs were white in color, the average size of 33 eggs from eight nests being 36cm (length)×29.6cm (width), and the average weight 17.2gm.
3. The incubation period of 33 eggs of 8 nests was average 19.5 days. The mean clutch size was 4.1 eggs. Through the incubation period, parents entered the nest 269 times in total and average 28.9 times, per day. The average attendance rate of incubation for non-attendance (off session) was 41.8% in the female and 30.1% in the male.
4. Out of 33 eggs of 8 nests examined, 23 eggs of 6 nests hatched, the hatching rate being 65%.
5. The nestling period of 21 chicks of 5 nests was average 19.4 days, and the average feeding frequency was 31.7 times per day with the highest frequency of 47.3 times on the 14th day after hatching. On the whole, the feeding frequency was slightly higher in the female than in the male.
6. The average time spent by parents on the nest in the feeding period was 37.2%, and the female spent 6.5% more time on the nest than the male. The frequency of attendance gradually decreased as their chicks grew up.
7. The average daily growth rate of chicks were: body length 6.54mm, wing 5.74mm, tail 3.29mm: and the body weight at hatching was 17.83g with average daily growth rate of 6.67g: and the average body weight just before leaving the nest was 142.4gm.
8. The flying success of 19 chicks from 5 nests was 75.8%.
9. The prey for the 8 chicks of 2 nests chosen from each of two different local groups of nests was entirely animal matters. The main food item was the frog which occupied 64.74% of the total food in nest No. 1 of one local group and 75.32% in nest No. 6 of the other local group.
10. The feeding ground was usually paddy fields within average 65m from their nests.
11. The home or feeding range of the pairs of eight nests was average 2.95 ha, and their entire home range was 23.6 ha, which occupied 38.8% of the entire study area.
The average territory size of the eight pairs was 1.05 ha, and their entire territorial area occupied 35% of the entire space of home ranges. Their feeding grounds were outside of their territories.
12. A total of 378 individuals of 26 bird species intruded the territories of Chinese Sparrow Hawk, with the following rate by species: the Great Tit 18.78%, Black-naped Oriole 11.38%, Rollar 9.79%, Chinese Sparrow Hawks 8.73%, Great Spotted Wood-pecker 7.67%, Narcissus Flycatcher 6.35%, and Pied wigtail 5.03%. In 378 territorial defenses 69.28% was by male, 21.37% by female and 9.35% was cooperative defenses by both sexes.
13. The number of Chinese Sparrow Hawks observed in 11 days post-breeding censuses which were made every other day until 17 september was 125, of which adults and young were 39.20% and 60.80% respectively. The final record was a single bird observed on 17 September, and then the Chinese Sparrow Hawks disappeared completely from the study area.
(November 1974)

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This investigation was made on the breeding biology of the Chinese Sparrow Hawk, Accipiter soloensis (Horsfield) in Kwangneung Forest, Jinjeob-myeon, Yangju-gun, Gyeonggi-do, during the period of 24 June-31 July, 1973.
1. Nest type was over round (length 38cm × width 30cm × height 12cm). 5 oval shaped eggs (length 36.4mm × width 30.7mm) were white and weighed 17.2gm.
2. During the incubation, parents' average nest visiting frequency by daytime was 23.4 times/day.
3. The incubation rate was 44.3% for female, 42.3% for male and the rest was left unbrooded.
4. 21 days were needed for breeding-from hatching till leaving nest-and nest visits by parent was 16.6 times/day in fine weather but on cloudy or rainy days the frequency was reduced to 2 times. The highest rate was on the 17th day, 5 days before flying of chicks.
5. The rate of nest visits with diets during feeding period was 7.7 times/day, and the male did a little more frequent than the female.
6. The rate of staying on nest of the parents during feeding period were 34.7%/day (a little longer in female), and the frequency was reduced as chicks grow.
7. The daily growth rate of chicks during feeding period was 6.35mm in total length, 10.5mm in wing length, 3.25mm in tail length, and 6.97gm in total weight.
8. Food items during feeding period consisted of animal matters; Amphibia-91.35% Aves-8.65%. Amphibia were identified as Rana nigromaculata-69.13%, and Rana indet. -22.22%. Birds were Crow Tit-6.18% and birds indet. -2.47%. The main food items consist of frogs.
9. The feeding ground consisted of 3 places, all of which were grass fields between rice paddy and miscellaneous woods. The parents did not gather food from paddy field.
10. The territory covered an area of 35m × 75m, the main part being wooded area north of nest site and feeding ground was outside of the territory.
11. The territory was intruded by other birds 21.7% during the incubation period, 78.3% during the feeding period; and defence rate was 26.0% by the female, 65.3% by the male, and joint defence rate was 8.7%.
The intruders consisted of Swallow-26.0%, Broardbilled Roller-17.4%, Great-spotted Woodpecker-13.0%, Chinese Sparrow hawk-8.7%, Grey Starling-8.7%, and the other birds such as Eastern Turtle dove, Jay, Great Tit, Shrike, Magpie, Green-backed Heron, and so on-26.0%.

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1. Behavior of Blue Magpie Cyanopica cyana against other bird species was studied during April 1962 and December 1973 in Nagano City area.
2. The Kitatobe population of Blue Magpie was kept under observation of reactions against other birds of 53 species (27 families) which intruded or trespassed the home range. Of these birds, the Blue Magpie's reaction was observed against the following species: Calonectris leucomelas (a strayed individual), Nycticorax, nycticorax, Egretta garzetta, Anser albifrons, Milvus migrans, Buteo buteo, Falco tinnunculus, Sterna albifrons, Streptopelia orientalis, Cuculus canorus, Hypsipetes amaurotis, Lanius cristatus, Passer montanus, Sturnus cineraceus, Sturnus sturnina, Garrulus glandarius and Corvus corone.
3. The behavior against these intruders was described in each case and the reaction patterns could be classified into: 1) harmful (or predatory) relation, 2) food relation, 3) roost relation.
4. The harmful relation was seen against 13 species and consisted of: A. Emission of alarm notes B. Attacking, C. Mobbing, D. Chasing flight, E. Fleeing, and A. was most usual.
5. Sensitive reaction was observed against some large water birds. such as Night Heron or egrets, etc., the meaning of which however was not clear.
6. Against buzzard and kestrel, the Blue Magpie reacted when they were flying and not reacted or mobbed when they were perched. Against kite, it behaved differently, only reacting when the kite was flying low and straight.
7. The frequency of reaction against cuckoo was low and the effect of its plumage of raptor pattern was not evident.
8. Against Carrion Crow, alarm note reaction was usual throughout the year and in breeding season strong attacking and chasing behaviors were added. No reaction was shown against young crows or flocks in roosting flight.
9. The dominance relation for food of Grey Starling>Blue Magpie>Brown-eared Bulbul was confirmed. Such specific ranks in food competition are correlated not only with amount or distribution pattern of the food but also with specific food preference.
10. The roost relation was seen between the Grey Starlings. The Blue Magpie moved off from its settled roosting position by social pressure of increasing number of arriving starlings.

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1. The roosting behavior of the Hooded Cranc Grus monacha has been studied for 15 years since 1960 at its wintering place Yashiro-mura, Yamaguchi Prefecture.
2. The roosting places were discovered by: 1) Observation of the direction of evening roosting flight from feeding area, 2) Confirmation of morning take off from an expected roosting spot, 3) The detection of actual roosting flock in the following morning.
3. By this procedure, 19 roosting places (A-S) where groups of 1-38 birds, often a family group of 2-4 birds, roosted, could be recorded on a map.
4. Of the 19 roosting places, 15 were wet paddies and 4 were bare grounds, but wet paddy roosts have decreased to 10.
5. These roosts were located at elevations of 195-450m above sea level and at 0.75-10.2km from the feeding areas.
6. The area of roosting paddies was 40-1250m² with the depth of water 1.0-7.5cm and mud depth 4.5-10.5cm. The water of about 5cm depth is considered desirable for the cranes since they drink it during the night.
7. The individual distance of roosting cranes, behavior of roosting flock, the movements of the flock in the night when disturbed, the surroundings of roosts, the human disturbance and gradual recent destruction of roosting environment are described.
8. Some roosting places are outside the crane protection area and the safeguard of scattered roosting places, wet paddies or bare ground spots, is an important measure to be taken for the maintenance of this locally isolated wintering population of the Hooded Crane, which is protected as one of the Special Natural Monuments.

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A Chestnut Bunting Emberiza rutila was captured on 23 December, 1974 at Ibusuki, Kagoshima Prefecture, S. Kyushu. This species is first recorded from Kyushu, and when captured this bird was in 1st winter plumage which was molted to the male adult plumage during middle April and the end of May.

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[in Japanese]

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