Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 31. (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 31st Lecture (ca. 1799): "No. 1245. Shore Lark. this name I find in Pennant and Latham, whose descriptions agree very well with the subject before us. It has the shape and size of the sky-lark; the upper parts of the body reddish brown, streaked with dusky, darkest on the head, from the base of the bill is a yellow line which passes over the Eyes down the side of the neck and joins the yellow throat; from the corner of the bill springs a black line, which spreads over each cheek. on the lower part of the neck is a broad black band, beneath this, the breast & lower parts a dull white. The quills & tail is dark, edged with light; feet & claws black. Aluada [sic] alpestris Linn. Hausse-Col Noir ou l'Alouette de Virginie. Buff. Linnaeus says it inhabits North America, Sibiria, Russia & Polonia. Catesby describes it as being very numerous in Virginia & Carolina in the winter, where they feed on wild oats. I have also seen flocks of them in the same season in Maryland. Always on the ground and never on trees." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale wrote, in "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806): "Shore-Lark (a. alpestris) they are very common in Maryland. Catesby describes it as being very numerous in Virginia and Carolina in the winter: according to Linneus it belongs to North America, Siberia, Russia, and Polonia." (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481)
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) described this species under the name "Shore Lark / Alauda alpestris" in American Ornithology vol. 1 (Pl. 5), where "Peale's Museum No. 5190" was cited (Wilson 1808: 85). / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175530#page/107/mode/1up (text) / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175530#page/95/mode/1up (plate)
Notes:
After Peale's Museum closed, a portion of Peale's bird collection was purchased in 1850 by Moses Kimball (1809–95), who displayed it at his "Boston Museum". An advertisement in the Boston Transcript, printed 1 October 1850, stated that Kimball had acquired "One Half of the celebrated Peale's Philadelphia Museum". The other half of Peale's birds had been sold to the circus promoter P. T. Barnum (1810–91) and would be subsequently destroyed in a fire at his "American Museum" in New York City in July 1865. When the Boston Museum closed, Kimball's Peale remnants passed temporarily to the Boston Society of Natural History, who disposed of them to Charles J. Maynard (1845-1929), a local taxidermist. The specimens were stored in a barn in Massachusetts for several years, then eventually were deposited at the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ), Harvard University. By the time the collection was catalogued by Walter Faxon (1848-1920) at MCZ, in 1914, in virtually every case the original mounts and labels had been disassociated from the specimens, and an untold number were lost (Faxon 1915).
Walter Faxon, "Relics of Peale's Museum," Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 59, no. 3 (July 1915): 136, speculated that MCZ 67856, a data-deficient specimen from the Boston Museum collection, was “perhaps the original of Wilson’s figure." Faxon's claim may be true, but Peale had this species in his collection by 1799, with little room (or interest) to display duplicates. / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/6339801#page/186/mode/1up
Wilson (1810: viii, American Ornithology, vol. 2) wrote: "no drawings have been, or will be made for this work, from any stuffed subjects, where living specimens of the same can be procured; yet the former serve a very important purpose; they enable the author to ascertain the real existence and residence of such subjects" / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175511#page/14/mode/1up
Wilson deposited many specimens at Peale's Museum, after completing his drawings, but the combined evidence from American Ornithology and the Peale Museum Accessions Book (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481) suggests that he deposited probably fewer than 100 skins total (and possibly as few as 40-50), whereas many authors have assumed that all the "Peale numbers" cited in Wilson's work were those of his own specimens (e.g., "he contributed 279 specimens to the collection", Edward H. Burtt, Jr., and William E. Davis, Jr., 2013, Alexander Wilson: The Scot Who Founded American Ornithology, Belknap Press, p. 310). This assumption appears to be based on a misunderstanding — Wilson was citing the numbers to give credit to Peale, to acknowledge his contributions, not to stake a claim to his own discoveries. If Burtt & Davis (2013) were correct, the "Catalogue of Duplicate Specimens" (APS Library, Mss.B.P31) would be full of Wilson's specimen deposits—but this is not the case. No duplicate of Horned Lark is listed. To the editor's (MRH) knowledge, there is no evidence that Wilson deposited a Horned Lark at Peale's Museum.
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Horned Lark
Current Scientific Name
Alaudidae | Eremophila alpestris
Repository:
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University (MCZ 67856)
