10 INSTRUCTIONS FOR COLLECTORS 



allow. Brief information on this is given below and more detailed instruc- 

 tions are available in a publication of the Smithsonian Institution (see 

 appendix 2). 



Birds have a wide range of external parasites including louse-flies, fleas 

 feather lice, chewing lice, mites, and ticks, and ranging from the conspicuous 

 to the minute. In collecting many of these it is vital that there should be an 

 exact determination of the host on which they were found. This is especially 

 necessary in the case of feather-lice and chewing lice which tend to be associated 

 with particular host species. If several birds are collected at one time and 

 placed or carried in close proximity to each other some parasites may rapidly 

 transfer themselves from one host to another. It is therefore essential that 

 each specimen to be examined is carefully and individually wrapped, and it 

 may be advisable to confine the collection of external parasites to specimens 

 collected singly. It is also necessary to clean with scrupulous care all bags, 

 wrappings, and surfaces on which parasites have been shaken out, or to 

 which they may have been transferred, before using them again. 



To collect the parasites the dead bird should be placed in a bag of linen or 

 butter-muslin immediately after death to prevent the escape of fleas or louse- 

 flies. The bag is then placed in an air-tight box for about half-an-hour 

 together with a piece of cotton wool soaked in chloroform. This will kill or 

 stupefy the ectoparasites and the bird can then be shaken over any smooth 

 white surface such as paper or a plastic table cloth. The feathers should be 

 ruffled, especially under the wings, and the head knocked on the table to 

 dislodge the head lice. The quills of the wing feathers should be examined 

 for small holes denoting the presence of lice or mites within ; the gular pouch 

 of members of the Pelecaniformes should also be examined for lice. Para- 

 sites can also be collected from the wrappings of bags if the birds have been 

 kept in these for some time, and when birds are heavily parasitised some 

 parasites can be picked directly off them. 



The parasites should be picked up with fine forceps or from a smooth 

 surface with a fine brush or needle dipped in alcohol. They should be placed 

 in tubes of 80 % alcohol (gin or whisky can be used in an emergency) but 

 never in formalin or any preservative containing formalin, and never with 

 cotton wool in the tube. The name and collector's number of the host 

 species, its sex and age, and the locality and date should all be entered on a 

 slip of paper in the tube, and the latter should be firmly corked or sealed to 

 prevent loss of moisture. (See also the section on collecting nests for 

 external parasites found in nests.) 



