Research Specimens (Aves) at Thiruvananthapuram Natural History Museum (TNHM)

The Museum and Zoo Gardens at Trivandrum was established in 1855. The museum and garden began functioning in the premises of an old Bungalow vacated by the Director of Observatory. The garden improved gradually with more additions, including an avenue planted with full-grown cork trees, a fountain, small pools etc. In 1866, 70 lanterns were placed in the garden on the teak-wood poles. Subsequent year a cast iron fountain was erected. By late 1860s it was being felt that the existing building ‘which is very old, requires to be pulled down, and one of larger dimensions and better pretensions to architectural beauty ought to be erected in its place. The improvement of the capital, and the increasing popularity of the Museum, appears alike to demand a new structure.” In 1873 the old building was removed to make place for the new one designed by Chishlom who was an architect with the Madras government. The initial cost estimation of the building was a handsome Rs.70,000. The museum with new building was renamed ‘Napier Museum’ as a complement to one of the Governor Generals of Madras. The museum started functioning in the new building in 1880. The new building also symbolised the emergent ‘public’ sphere in the princely Travancore. Apart from the collections of scientific instruments and ornamental items, a natural history collection was also maintained in the Museum. Among the items of this collection included ‘a few stuffed animals, a whale’s skull, and an Elephant’s tusk of extraordinary size’. Skins of birds and mammals obtained from abroad were also added to the natural history section of the museum in 1884-85. Skins were also procured from Australia with the help of Lieut. Wyllie of the Nair Brigade. As far as taxidermy collection is concerned, a collection of 807 specimens of bird skins was contributed by the Maharajah of Travancore in mid 1880s. The collection was labelled and classified by Davidson of Oottacamund. Twenty different kinds of bird’s eggs were also procured in 1885 (Report on the Administration of Travancore from 1862 to 1947, Amruth 2010). HS Ferguson was in charge of the insect and bird collection from 1888. A taxidermist was sent to the Government Central Museum in Madras in 1889 to improve his knowledge and a taxidermist from British Indian Museum, Calcutta came to Trivandrum to train the museum staff. A collection of the birds of Travancore was undertaken during the period of Ferguson. It has also been recorded that Hugh Whistler sent 57 specimens collected during the Travancore Ornithological Survey to His Highness Maharaja of Travancore, who in turn presented them to the Museum (Report on the Administration of Travancore from 1862 to 1947 (RAT)).

No register or other details were available regarding the collection in the museum office or library. Apart from the details given in the RAT mentioned above, no information was available. From where the 807 bird specimens that the Maharaja contributed originated or which were these specimens, we do not know. Museum and Public Gardens, Administration Report – 1108 ME (1933), states the following:

“… Of all the galleries…those devoted to Ornithology and Ichthyology have been attracting the greatest interest. These two branches have been carefully and systematically worked out…considerable progress has been made with regard to the Ornithological Branch. There are already about 2,000 specimens of birds, neatly cured, sexed and labelled, each species represented by about 15 to 20 specimens so that seasonal variations, sexual differences, immature and mature specimens etc. could be made out without difficulty…The total collection represents about 330 species of Travancore Birds including two peculiar to this country and about 70 immigrants... An excellent opportunity for making further and more intensive study of the birdlife of the State was offered during the year of report by the Ornithological Survey undertaken by Mr. Sálim A Ali under the auspices of Bombay Natural History Society, and part financed by the Government. The Museum Curator Mr. Gomathinayagom Pillai, who is a Zoology graduate, was deputed to work with Mr. Sálim Ali in camp and to specialise in this branch. The Curator has received very good training and has profited by the opportunity. The survey lasted for about four months during which collections were made from 14 stations at different parts of the State. About 700 specimens were collected… The specimens collected are being worked out by Mr. Hugh Whitler of the British Museum. Some of our cabinet specimes selected by Mr. Sálim Ali also has been forwarded to Mr. Hugh Whistler. These, together with the duplicates of the collection made by the Survey Party, are expected to be receives shortly when they will be exhibited in suitable specimen cases which are being made. As a supplement to the Survey proper, the Curator collected about 185 specimens from all over the Trivandrum Taluk, by himself, during the rains. This collection is of particular interest in that few specimens obtained during seasons of rain are usually found in collections, has also been forwarded to Mr. Whistler, who has greatly appreciated Mr. Gomathinayagom Pillai’s work.”

During the Travancore-Cochin Ornithological Survey of 1933, Sálim Ali had inspected the collection, as is evident from his mention in certain species accounts in the paper Ornithology of Travancore and Cochin (Ali & Whistler 1935 – ’37). William Davison (1886) described a species of laughingthrush based on two “stained” specimens in Trivandrum Museum collected from “hills east of Cannanore”, as recorded in the tag of one specimen. This has been quoted by Oates and Blanford (1898) and Baker (1922) in their books. These specimens are now in the Natural History Museum (BMNH), UK. This species named Trochalopterum cinnamomeum Davison, 1886 does not feature in subsequent literature as there were no more specimens available or sight records to substantiate the existence of such a species. No other mention of the bird collection in the museum is available as of now, but a thorough search in the archives and other sources is bound to reveal more details.

The bird specimens catalogued in 2010 were housed in wooden cabinets in a room opposite to the cabin of the Museum Superintendent. The cabinets had six rows of drawers; specimens of larger birds were placed as such in the drawers, but smaller ones were arranged in lid covered card-board boxes strengthened with metal corners. The boxes were of different dimensions, according to the size and number of the specimens. A printed label with the family name of the enclosed species was stuck on the top of the lid, in most cases. The boxes looked as if they were specially manufactured for the purpose and have survived decades without any apparent damage. Two more wooden cabinets were found later in 2013 in a room adjacent to the cabin of the Museum Superiintendent. These cabinets had drawers in which the specimens were kept directly and not in card board boxes. Most of the drawers have not been opened for the past several years and many had to be forced open. Apart from accumulation of a little dust, the specimens were in reasonably good condition. No moth, cockroaches or any other insects had infested them; arsenic soap could have been used in preparing the skins, obviously.