Five questions. Two of them can end the exercise, and they come first for that reason.
One: what species, and is it on the list?
50 CFR 10.13 is the List of Birds Protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. If the specimen is a bird, a part, a nest or an egg of a native migratory species, the statute reaches possession and sale and the question is a permit question.
Two: where did it come from, and under what permission?
The Lacey Act makes it unlawful to acquire, receive, purchase, transport or sell anything taken in violation of any federal, state, tribal or foreign law. Written provenance is the only answer to that, and it has to come with the specimen.
Three: what is the preservative, and does it have to travel?
Ethanol is a Class 3 flammable liquid. A specimen staying in a cabinet raises no transport question at all; one being shipped raises the whole of 49 CFR, and the answer differs completely between the two.
Four: which route, if it ships?
173.4 at 30 mL per inner receptacle with six conditions, 173.4b at 1 mL with five drops and a compressive load, or a properly classified hazmat shipment. Our smallest jar is 55 mL, so the first two need a receptacle from elsewhere.
Five: what is the liner, and has it been tested against the fluid?
In writing, naming the preservative and its concentration. Then keep a fluid-only control jar sealed the same way and weigh it occasionally, because your own loss rate is the only number that describes your collection.
Then write the label so it survives
Pencil or alcohol-proof ink on a label that lives inside the jar, with species, date, place and collector. A specimen without that is not really a specimen, and no amount of good packaging fixes it.
And inspect twice a year
Fluid level, clarity, closure, and the dry material for pests and mold. Every failure in this property is slow, and a schedule is the only thing that catches a slow failure in time to act.
References
16 U.S.C. 703,
Taking, killing, or possessing migratory birds unlawful. Subsection (a) makes it unlawful to possess, offer for sale, sell, barter, purchase, ship, export or import any migratory bird, any part, nest or egg of such a bird, or any product composed in whole or part of them. Subsection (b) limits the subchapter to species native to the United States or its territories.
law.cornell.edu50 CFR 10.13,
List of Birds Protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, whose stated legal authorities are the MBTA at 16 U.S.C. 703-712, the Fish and Wildlife Improvement Act of 1978 and the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956, implementing conventions with Canada, Mexico, Japan and Russia.
law.cornell.edu16 U.S.C. 3372, the Lacey Act’s prohibited acts. Paragraph (a)(1) makes it unlawful to import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire or purchase any fish, wildlife or plant taken, possessed, transported or sold in violation of any law, treaty or regulation of the United States or any Indian tribal law; (a)(2) extends it to interstate or foreign commerce for State and foreign law violations.
law.cornell.edu49 CFR 173.4,
Small quantities for highway and rail. Class 3 and other listed materials are not subject to other requirements where the inner receptacle holds no more than 30 mL of liquid, is not liquid-full at 55 C, is glass, earthenware, metal or plastic of at least 0.2 mm, has any removable closure held securely with wire, tape or other positive means, and is packed with non-reactive absorbent able to take the entire contents inside a strong outer packaging, the whole demonstrated by prototype testing.
law.cornell.edu49 CFR 173.4b,
De minimis exceptions, which take listed Packing Group II and III materials out of the definition of a hazardous material at 1 mL per inner receptacle for liquids, subject to five specified 1.8 m drops and a compressive load.
law.cornell.edu29 CFR 1910.1200,
Hazard Communication, which sets what a shipped container of a hazardous chemical carries and requires a safety data sheet.
law.cornell.edu 