Mrs Margaret Sordahl (born Froiland) was the daughter of Reverend Gunder S. Froiland and Alma Cora Gorder. After her marriage in 1928 she was also known by her husband's initials, L.O. Sordahl*. She accompanied her husband to South West Africa (now Namibia) in September 1929, where he took up the position of field director of the Mount Brukkaros solar radiation station, some 100 km north of Keetmanshoop. They stayed on the mountain until December 1931, when the station was closed. Mrs Sordahl had zoological training and was an active naturalist. She brought the necessary collecting equipment with her and, upon her return to Washington donated her specimens to the United States National Museum.

In the annual report of the museum for 1932 (Wetmore, 1932, p. 7) the collection is described as follows: "One of the most interesting general collections of biological material was obtained by Mrs L.O. Sordahl... This includes birds, mammals, reptiles and plants, some of which are new to science, and many of which had not been represented previously in the National Museum". Further details are supplied in the report of the head curator for the Department of Biology (pp. 46-48, 145): The collection of 49 mammals included representatives of five genera new to the museum. The 48 bird skins, six nests and three eggs included nine forms new to the museum. Also included were a small but excellent collection of 75 reptiles and batrachians, 561 insects, seven molluscs, two crabs and 158 plants. Most of the plants were veld flowers, but 44 varieties of grasses were also included. The birds were described by H. Friedmann in 1932. He considered two of them new to science: Abbot's ground robin, Erythropygia coryphaeus abboti (no longer admitted as a separate race), collected along the Fish River and named in honour of Dr C.G. Abbot*; and Poliospiza albogularis sordahlae (now considered a local race of the White coated seed-eater, Crithagra albogularis), collected on Brukkaros Mountain and named after the collector.

List of sources:

FamilySearch: Margaret G. Froiland. https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/GS2G-WMM

Friedmann, H. A collection of birds from Great Namaqualand, Southwest Africa. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 1932-1933, Vol. 82, No. 2951, 12 pp.

Plug, C. History of the Solar Radiation Expedition to Mount Brukkaros, South West Africa, 1926-1931. South African Journal of Science, 1989, Vol. 85, pp. 174-180.

Wetmore, A. Report of the Smithsonian Institution, United States National Museum, 1932, pp. 7, 46-48; p. 145, accession no. 119554.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2025-12-13 11:55:02