Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
By 1812
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) listed a specimen in his 13th Lecture (ca. 1799) that seems likely to have been an adult of this species: "No. 37. Russet breasted Hawk (Penna)." Another specimen, which Peale called the "Chicken Hawk of Pennsylvania," may have been this species, but more likely an immature Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus): "white underneath, [with] some feathers on the belly under parts of the body marked with large oval and round spots; tail bared [sic] with brown, red more or less [deep]." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) described this species under the name "Broad-winged Hawk / Falco pennsylvanicus" in American Ornithology vol. 6 (Pl. 54), where "Peale's Museum, No. 407" was cited (Wilson 1812: 92). / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175484#page/120/mode/1up (text) / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175484#page/121/mode/1up (plate)
Wilson (1812: 92) stated that his specimen was collected "on the sixth of May, in Mr. Bartram's woods, near the Schuylkill [River], and was afterwards presented to Mr. Peale, in whose collection it now remains." The specimen is extant at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (ANSP 1551).
Notes:
Wilson's specimen (ANSP 1551) was identified as the holotype of B. platypterus by Stone (1899, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 51: 11). The label attached to the specimen states that there was an "inscription on [the] bottom of [the] stand" (now lost) which read: "orig. specimen fig. by Wilson from Peale's Museum." The specimen ledger in which Stone catalogued the bird reads: "Alex. Wilson's TYPE from Peale's Museum, in exch. 1856" (ANSP Archives, coll. 54). Presumably, the specimen was purchased (not exchanged) at the 1848 Sheriff's Sale by ANSP curator, John Cassin (1813-1869), but the details of this transaction are poorly known.
For more discussion about the ANSP types of Wilson and their provenance, see Matthew R. Halley, 2020, "Rediscovery of a lost type specimen of Alexander Wilson", Wilson Journal of Ornithology 132: 206-213; and Matthew R. Halley, 2022, "Rediscovery of the holotype of the American Goshawk, Accipiter gentilis atricapillus (Wilson, 1812), and a commentary about Alexander Wilson’s contributions to the Peale Museum", Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 167: 233-240).
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Broad-winged Hawk
Current Scientific Name
Accipitridae | Buteo platypterus
Repository:
Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (ANSP 1551)
