Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 13. (ca. 1799). Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40. / https://ansp.org/research/library/archives/0000-0099/coll0040/
Additional Source Text:
Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) wrote, in his 13th Lecture (ca. 1799): "No. 20. Red tailed Falcon, on the back reddish feathers among the black, tail quite reddish, brown spots towards the end, but whiter at the extremity, a black line under each eye; neck white, with brown lines; sides reddish, Brest and under parts striped & [barred] with brown and white; feathers of the legs white. It is the Falco borealis of Linnaeus, [the] American Buzzard [of] Latham, p. 50. No. 31. They dwell in woods near plantations in Maryland and Pennsylvania, and destroy a great deal of Poultry." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) described this species under the name "Red-tailed Hawk / Falco borealis" in American Ornithology vol. 6 (Pl. 52), where "Peale's Museum, No. 182" was cited (Wilson 1812: 75). / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175484#page/101/mode/1up (text) / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175484#page/100/mode/1up (plate)
Wilson (1812) also described an immature individual in the same volume, under the name "American Buzzard, or White-breasted Hawk / Falco leverianus?" (Pl. 52), and cited "Peale's Museum, No. 400" (Wilson 1812: 78). / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175484#page/104/mode/1up (text) / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175484#page/100/mode/1up (plate)
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Red-tailed Hawk
Current Scientific Name
Accipitridae | Buteo jamaicensis
