OF The BIRD COLLeCTION IN The BeLGRADe NATURAL hISTORY MUSeUM : The ORDeR PODICIPeDIFORMeS

The fund of the Belgrade Natural History Museum’s ornithological collection has especially great scientific, museological, cultural, and historical importance. the order Podicipediformes was recently chosen for inventory work the results of which are reported here. a total of 57 specimens from three Museum collections and over 20 localities throughout Serbia was inventoried. the most inventory units were recorded in the collection of mounted bird specimens (38), the least in the historical collection (eight). the study collection of birds contains 11 specimens. it was determined that most specimens in the Museum are great crested grebes (Podiceps cristatus). the Museum has the fewest specimens of rednecked grebes (Podiceps grisegena) and no specimens of Slavonian grebe (Podiceps auritus) at all. Podiceps nigricollis and Tachybaptus ruficollis are represented by an approximately equal number of specimens. the paper shows that the collection of grebes in the Belgrade Natural History Museum represents an especially important source of information about the taxon Podicipediformes. it can also be considered a valuable part of our cultural and natural heritage. uDc 59Podicipediformes:069(479.111)

uDc 59Podicipediformes:069(479.111)iNtroDuctioN keeping in mind that the bird collection in the Natural History Museum in Belgrade is over 100 years old and includes specimens from a large number of localities in Serbia, our goal here is to present the collection of grebes as an important source of information for about taxon Podicipediformes (grebes), but also for various future studies.altogether, 57 specimens from order Podicipediformes were inventoried.Depending on the date and locality of collecting and the collector or donor, they vary in their scientific, historical, and cultural value.the present review does not include the collection of eggs and nests, which also represents a part of the ornithological collection of the Museum.the bird collection in the Belgrade Natural History Museum today contains about 5500 inventory units, including eggs and nests, so it is one of the richest ornithological collections in southeastern Europe.the collection belongs to the Department of vertebrata of the Biological Division of the Natural History Museum.Most specimens within the ornithological collection are from Serbia and Montenegro, a somewhat smaller number are from other countries of the Balkan Peninsula, and only a few originate from distant parts of Europe and other regions.
as the material in the ornithological collection has such great scientific, museological, cultural, and historical importance, the activities of curators in the last several years have been focussed on more adequate protection of existing ornithological material.active collecting of specimens in the field have been reduced to the smallest possible intensity, as most bird species in our country are more or less threatened.However, the ornithological collection of the Natural History Museum is an important document on birds from this region.
The bird collection of Natural History Museum includes four parts: 1. the historical collection, composed exclusively of specimens from the former "jestastvenica" Cabinet of the Great School.In the first list of birds in the Museum of Serbian Lands, by Dušan Spasojević, which was printed in Prosvetni Glasnik in 1904, it is stated that the collection of birds then included 539 specimens from 210 different species (S t o j i ć e v i ć , 1904).Unfortunately, a number of these specimens are not present in the collection anymore.it is not known for certain what happened to them, but it is most probable that they were damaged beyond repair, so they were removed from the collection.
2. the study collection of skins, consisting of reference material for scientific use, that is, birds prepared in such a way that permits checking of morphometric characteristics.accordingly, this collection has been used for scientific purposes.
3. the collection of mounted birds -taxidermic specimens, which are primarily used for exhibition purposes.However, they also have scientific and historical value, as some of the specimens are up to 100 years old.
4. the collection of eggs and nests.it is composed of preserved eggs and nests and has primarily scientific value.

MatErial aND MEtHoDS
Documentation (from inventory and collectors' books) of the ornithological collection of the Natural History Museum was used to prepare the present paper.the data were checked and compared with specimens from the Museum's collections (the historical collection, study collection, and collection of mounted specimens) belonging to the order Podicipediformes as of 2004-04-30.
Each inventory unit of this order contains, besides the name of the species, the inventory number (number under which the specimen is entered in the Museum's documentation), date and locality of collecting, name of the collector, and sex of the collected bird, if known.the date is presented as follows: first the year (four figures), then the month (two figures), and then the day (two figures).Years, months and days are separated by a hyphen.if only the approximate date is known, the earliest and latest possible dates are given, separated by an "equal" sign (=).if there was no way to determine the date, it is marked as "date unknown".the locality of collecting contains several toponyms from general to individual separated by a colon, where the first toponym is regional and the other shows the closest town (on the level of the municipality center).a microtoponym is included in the locality in cases where it was noted on the label of the inventory unit (M a r k o v i ć , 1980).Localities that include a river or a mountain are recorded along with the toponym of appropriate level, separated by a comma.the name of collector, if known, is cited completely as is written on the label on the inventory unit.if the name was unknown, the "unknown" label is used.rESultS aND DiScuSSioN altogether, 57 inventory units from the order Podicipediformes were reviwed within the historical collection, study collection, and collection of mounted bird specimens of the Natural History Musem's ornithological collection.the results are presented in the tables, separate for each species and each collection.there are a number of specimens of Podicipediformes in the collection of eggs and nests, which are not included in this paper.
Podiceps cristatus is represented in all three collections.there are three specimen in the historical collection (  12 presents the data on specimens that are, except in the inventory books, absent in the ornithological collection (and whose fate is not precisely known) as well as data on specimens present in the collection, but lacking labels or any other note (and which are not recorded in the inventory and collectors' books).a total of 11 such specimens from was the order Podicipediformes was inventoried: P. cristatus -three; P. nigricollis -one; and T. ruficollis -seven specimens.table 12. Podicipediformes found either only in the inventory books or as specimens without any labels or notes birds (table 3).coNcluSioN in the inventory review of the order Podicipediformes in the ornithological collection of the Belgrade Natural History Museum, a total of 57 specimens from over 20 localities was recorded, mostly from central and Southern Serbia.Most specimens belong to the species Podiceps cristatus (23), which in our country also has the widest distribution of all representatives of Podicipediformes.Podiceps nigricollis and Tachybaptus ruficollis are represented with almost the same number of specimens: 14 and 15, respectively, while the species Podiceps grisegena has the fewest specimens in the collections of Natural History Museum -only five.
the collection of mounted birds contains the greatest number of specimens (38), and the historical collection has the smallest number (only eight).the study collection has 11 specimens.the ornithological collection of the Natural History Museum does not contain even one specimen of the species Podiceps auritus.Most probably, the cause for this lack is the fact that this species is very rarely seen at localities in our country.of course, that does not mean that it should be acquired by any means for some of the mentioned collections of the Museum.
according to recent data on bird abundance (P u z o v i ć et al. 2003), it is estimated that the trend of the breeding population of Podiceps cristatus is increasing, and that the greatest population numbers are in vojvodina.However it also breeds in central Serbia.For the species Podiceps nigricollis, it is estimated that the population numbers are variable, and that it is only present in marshy and flooded areas, while in other parts of Serbia it is completely missing.Podiceps grisegena shows a stable trend of the breeding population.like the previous species, it can be observed only in vojvodina.in addition to vojvodina, where its abundance is certainly the greatest, Tachybaptus ruficcolis also breeds in central Serbia, and the population trend is stable.Podiceps auritus has not been recorded as a breeding species in the republic of Serbia. in view of the diversity and geographical distribution of the order Podicipediformes, their presence in nature, and the number of breeding pairs in Serbia, the collection of grebes in the Natural History Museum represents an especially important source of information.it can also be considered an important part of our cultural

Table 1 )
, five specimens in the study collection (table 2), and 15 specimens in the collection of mounted

table 1 .
Specimens of Podiceps cristatus linnaeus, 1758 in the historical collection of birds.

table 2 .
Specimens of Podiceps cristatus linnaeus, 1758 in the study collection of birds.

table 3 .
Specimens of Podiceps cristatus linnaeus, 1758 in the collection of mounted birds.thehistoricalcollection of birds includes only one specimen of the species Podiceps nigricollis (table 4), there are two specimens in the study collection (table5), and the collection of mounted birds contains altogether 11 specimens (table6).

table 4 .
Specimens of Podiceps nigricollis Brehm, 1831 in the historical collection of birds

table 5 .
Specimens of Podiceps nigricollis Brehm, 1831 in the study collection of birds

table 6 .
Specimens of Podiceps nigricollis Brehm, 1831 in the collection of mounted birds.Podiceps grisegena was recorded in only two bird collections: in the historical collection -one specimen (table7) and four specimens in the collection of mounted birds (table8).

table 6 . continued table 7 .
Specimens of Podiceps grisegena Boddaert, 1783 in the historical collection of birds

table 8 .
Specimens of Podiceps grisegena Boddaert, 1783 in the collection of mounted birds.Tachybaptus ruficollis is represented in all three collections: the historical collection includes three specimens of this species (table9), in the study collection has four specimens (table 10), and the collection of mounted birds contains a total of eight specimens (table11).

table 9 .
Specimens of Tachybaptus ruficollis Pallas, 1764 in the historical collection of birds

table 10 .
Specimens of Tachybaptus ruficollis Pallas, 1764 in the study collection of birds

table 8 . continued table 11 .
Specimens of Tachybaptus ruficollis Pallas, 1764 in the collection of mounted birds.table