Notice
and Disclaimer
Specimen acquisition
and cataloguing is an ongoing effort. This site provides basic information
for most of our catalogued specimens, and we make every effort to make
sure the information presented is accurate. However, please keep in
mind that mistakes in databases are inevitable, and we cannot unconditionally
guarantee the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the information
provided. Researchers can contact the collection manager if they need
additional specimen information, but are urged to examine the specimens
directly to verify important data. Please notify us if you find any
discrepancies in the data.
Data available through this site are
intended solely for use in research and education, and may not be repackaged,
redistributed, or sold in any form without prior written consent from
the appropriate Burke Museum curatorial staff. Those wishing to use
these data for analyses or reports must acknowledge their provenance
and notify the appropriate curator prior to publication. The Burke Museum
and its staff are not responsible for any damage or loss due to use
of these data.
Help Page
The following
information may help you when searching the database:
Using
the Search Interface
-
You are not required to fill in all the fields.
Simply put in enough information to narrow the selected records down
to those that are of particular interest to you. See the individual
“Help Fields” (below) for definitions of each of the search fields and
information about how to best use them when searching the database.
-
Choosing
Which Records to Return: After deciding your search criteria, you will
need to decide which records you want to view. The default, “All Records”,
will return every specimen that meets the other criteria you have entered.
However, if you are mainly interested in the Genetic Resources Collection,
click on “Records with Tissue Samples”, which will omit records that
do not have an associated tissue available for research.
-
Choosing
How You Wish to View Records: We have provided you various options for
viewing the returned records. The simple “List” option gives you basic
information (museum number, name, sex, type, country, date), which can
be easily viewed on your computer screen; it is most useful for quick
surveys of collection holdings which don’t require detailed specimen
information. The “Detailed List” option provides much more detailed
locality information and other informational fields that may be of use
(see notes about search fields below). If you want to know how many
specimens are available for each species, the “Record Counts by Species”
quickly tabulates the number of specimens for each species meeting your
search parameters. From this list, you can click on the number returned
to view the specimens in the “List” mode. Note that in either of the
“list” modes, clicking on an individual specimen’s museum number will
pull up that specimen’s full data record, with concatenated location
information.
Finally,
you can control how many records you view per page (20, 50, or 100)
and how they are sorted on the initial screen (by genus species, common
name, geography, date, etc.). Once you are in one of the “list” modes,
you may choose to re-sort the records by any column, by simply clicking
on the column heading. If you wish to do a more complicated sort, you
may download the records and sort them within another application (e.g.,
Excel).
Downloading Search Results: There are
three options for downloading the results of your search: as either
an Excel File, and Word File, or a Text File. Clicking on one of these
options automatically starts the download process.
Museum
Number
The
“MusNum” or museum number field is a 5-digit number that uniquely identifies
each individual in the collection. This number if often referred to
as the “Catalog Number.” If you use data from University of Washington
Burke Museum specimens in analyses or reports, you should reference
this number as follows: “UWBM ######”.
The
same number is used on different specimen types taken from the same
individual (e.g. a skin, spread wing, skeleton and tissue from the same
individual will have the same catalog number.). Eggs associated with
a specimen are cataloged under a separate number. Eggs with an associated
nest are cataloged under the same number. Different Zoology collections
(e.g., Mammalogy and Ornithology) keep separate catalogs.
Clicking
on the Museum Number for any specimen in any window will return a detailed
view of the data for that specimen. As for every column, clicking on
the column header will sort the output by that field in ascending order.
Family
This
field is searchable using a pull-down menu on the initial search page.
The taxonomy currently being used at the Burke Museum is a modification
of Moro
ny, Bock and Farrand compiled by D. Scott Wood and
Dennis Paulson in 1992. To download a text file of that taxonomy click
here.
Genus species
This
is the scientific name (binomial) of the organism for which you are
searching (e.g.,
Turdus migratorius
or
Falco peregrinus
). Searches in the genus field are made using
“equals” so the genus you are searching for must match our taxonomy
exactly. Searches in the species field are made using “contains.” This
is important because some searches may return more than one taxon.
The
taxonomy currently being used at the Burke Museum is a modification
of Morony, Bock and Farrand compiled by D. Scott Wood and Dennis Paulson
in 1992. To download a text file of that taxonomy click here.
Common Name
This
field contains the English language name associated with the scientific
name. Searches in this field are made using “contains” as the operator
for the search. This is important because a search for “crow” will
return several species including White-crowned Sparrow and Golden-crowned
Kinglet.
The
taxonomy currently being used at the Burke Museum is a modification
of Morony, Bock and Farrand compiled by D. Scott Wood and Dennis Paulson
in 1992. English names are from the
1983 AOU Check-list and its supplements and
Birds of the World: A
Checklist
, by James Clements, Facts on File, 1981are taken mostly from Clements 1981.
To download a text file of that taxonomy click here.
Sex
The sex of
the specimen as determined either during preparation or by morphology.
Possible entries are as follows:
"F"
= female
"M"
= male
"?"
= sex unknown
This field should be blank only for eggs/nests.
Type
An
individual organism can be represented in the collection by one or more
specimen types.
This
field describes the kind of specimen or specimens prepared from an individual
organism. The designations are described below for the bird collection.
Round
= scientific study skin with both wings still attached
Round/wing
= scientific study skin with one wing still attached and one wing detached
and spread
Flat
= flat bird skin (commonly referred to as a pelt)
Wing
= spread wing
Skel
= skeleton
Part
skel = a partial skeleton
Tissue Number
The
“field” or “preparator” number given to tissues as they are prepared.
This number is used mainly to locate tissues in the collection and should
not be used as a reference number in reports or publications (see museum
number).because tissue numbers are sometimes idiosyncratic. In most
cases this number is the 3 initials of the field preparator followed
by a number, as described by Grinell in XXXX (insert reference).
Date
Contains
the day, month and year the specimen died and is returned as month/day/year
(mm/dd/yyyy). When an exact date is unknown, we use a series of 8’s
to represent inexact date. For example the date for a specimen collected
sometime in September of 2003 will read 9/88/2003. Clicking on the
catalog number for the specimen will reveal the details of what date
information is known for the specimen.
Country
Contains
the country in which the specimen was collected. The field is searchable
using a pull-down menu on the initial search page. Included in this
field are the following geographic localities that are not generally
recognized as countries but for which this field is utilized in the
Burke Database:
Antarctica
Bering
Sea
Falkland
Islands
Gaza
Strip
North
Pacific Ocean
South
Pacific Ocean
North
Atlantic Ocean
South
Atlantic Ocean
This field is also used for birds that
were in captivity when they died. For specimens where this was the
case “CAPTIVE” has been entered into the country field.
State/Province
Contains
the state, province or equivalent location where the specimen was collected.
The operator for the field is “equals” so derivations of state or province
names will not be recognized (i.e., you must type in the full name,
spelled correctly). For a list of the recognized States and Province
designations click here.
County
Contains
the name of the county, parish, or equivalent location where the specimen
was collected. The words “County” or “Parish” should not be included
in this search field. This field is used for the relevant geographic
designation below state or province in each country, if applicable.
Thus, the label “County” does not imply that only geographic entities
named as counties are included, only that they be areas that are geographically
equivalent.
Locality
Contains
the city or town nearest to where the specimen was collected. In some
cases this geographic entity is not the closest populated place but
rather the closest “major” population center. Occasionally a large,
fixed geological landmark (e.g., a mountain) is used for the main locality
if there are no towns nearby.
Misc.
Location
Contains
the geographic entity closest to where the specimen was collected.
This can be a lake, river, (we don’t use street addresses) etc.
Island Group
Contains
the name of the Island Group where the specimen was collected (e.g.
Hawaiian Islands, Falkland Islands). In some cases this will duplicate
the data in the country field (e.g. Solomon Islands).
Island
Contains
the name of the name of the island where the specimen was collected.
