[Nhcoll-l] The best way to preserve birds in spirit

[Erik Åhlander]

A note more for Simon than for Tonya,

I am presently working with some parrots which were preserved in distilled wine in the 1750s and stored in alcohol since (and no formalin!). They were part of the royal collection and was studied by Linnaeus. Most were still alive when Linnaeus made his visits, but at least one was preserved before Linnaeus was called for, and had no green and other strong colours preserved. It was rather brownish grey according to his description. Except for some red colour (the tail of Psittacus erithacus), all specimens are today overall brownish grey. However if the feathers are carefully dried, the colours reappears (at least in wings and tails) and it is possible to identify them to species. The colours are slightly faded. Yellow seems to have been destroyed, and green becomes more blueish. Otherwise most of them are in excellent condition. Not very soft. I think they have been stored away from sunlight, and more or less without being handled for the last 250 years.

King Adolf Fredrik probably got help from the druggist Zierfogel, who supplied the king with equipment and know-how. Zierfogel also kept a collection. But we don’t know in detail how the fixation and preservation was made.

Best wishes,


[nrm_logo]

Erik Åhlander
Senior assistant
Vertebrates + museum history
Swedish Museum of Natural History
Department of Zoology
Box 50007
SE-104 05 STOCKHOLM
Sweden
erik.ahlander at nrm.se<mailto:erik.ahlander at nrm.se>
+46-8-51954118
+46-70-2252716



Från: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> För Simon Moore
Skickat: den 2 maj 2019 11:24
Till: Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace) <Tonya.Haff at csiro.au>
Kopia: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Ämne: Re: [Nhcoll-l] The best way to preserve birds in spirit

Hi Tonya,

Bear in mind that EtOH is not a proper fixative and this would account for ’squishiness’!

There was an ornithologist called Serventy from Australia who formulated a special fluid for preserving colour in bird feathers:
Serventy's Colour Preserving fluid for Parrots
70% alcohol - 90 pts
36.5% formaldehyde - 5 pts
Glycerine - 5 pts

Given the formalin present, this would likely serve as a fixative and preservative, although, for a fresh specimen, an immersion in 10% formalin (and injecting it into the body cavities) for a few days (not as much as 10, that may compromise DNA) will benefit its long term preservation.
Bear in mind that Serventy’s fluid appeared when molecular biology was in its infancy and not a preservation issue.

With all good wishes, Simon.

Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR
Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian,

[cid:image001.png at 01D500DD.46A63DD0]

www.natural-history-conservation.com<http://www.natural-history-conservation.com>




On 2 May 2019, at 02:26, Haff, Tonya (NCMI, Crace) <Tonya.Haff at csiro.au<mailto:Tonya.Haff at csiro.au>> wrote:

Hi all,

We have some birds that we would like to preserve whole, in alcohol. We are currently discussing the best way to preserve them – apparently in the past birds here were put directly into 70% EtOH with no exposure to formalin. I have encountered some pretty squishy birds in spirit, however. On the other side, I recently saw an email from a collection manager suggesting putting birds in 10% formalin for 10 days before transferring them to EtOH, which seems like a very prolonged exposure to me. If any of you who preserve birds in fluids would share what you all do, I’d really appreciate it!

Cheers,

Tonya

---------------------------------------------------------
Dr Tonya Haff
Collections Manager
Australian National Wildlife Collection
National Research Collections Australia, CSIRO
Canberra, Australia
Phone: (+61) 02 6242 1566 (office)
(+61) 0419 569 109 (mobile)

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