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This is a review of the urban birds of eastern Asia and of the United States comparing their modifications for city life which have made them successful in that environment. It compares the habitat use by 848 species in Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and United States as seen among 30 locations where more than a million birds were tallied from 1941 through 1988. Using a criterion that an urban bird species was one in which at least one-third of the population was found in city environs, 70 species fell into this category. Compared by 113 characteristics of bird bionomics these species had similarities which suggested that having or developing those characteristics enhanced their success as urban birds. These are listed. Foreward I am honored to be asked to participate in this memorial issue for Dr. Yamashina. We were friends and associates occasionally meeting at the Institute or over lunch for a quarter of a century. I greatly valued his support and interest and he was an inspiration to young ornithologists or biologists that both of us helped along the way. I wish to dedicate this study to him. It covers a lifetime of bird-watching nearly half of which was in eastern Asia.