Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 38. (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 38th Lecture (ca. 1799): "No. 1948. Swift. Whole plumage sooty black, except the chin which is a dingy white; the wings very long measuring from tip to tip 18 Inches; the feet very short; the toes all placed foreward. Hirundo apus Linn. Grand Martinet. Buff. pl. enl. 542. f. 1. No. 1949. (male). Recd this from the Paris Museum. This European Swallow makes its appearance the latest and departs the soonest." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale continued: "They choose the most elevated places to build in, such as Steeples & lofty Towers, are supposed to return to the same places year after year. Their food being flies, moths & other winged Insects; and as they are apt to catch at everything on the wing, Boys take delight in catching them by hanging out a hook bated with a feather, for elevated place, and thus take several dozens of them in a day. They inhabit the whole of Europe, and have been noticed at the Cape of Good Hope. Lawson says they [are] found in Carolina, hence they are supposed to be an Inhabitant of both continents." (ANSP Archives, coll. 40)
Notes:
Palisot de Beauvois (1752-1820), the French naturalist, approached Peale about a specimen exchange in October 1794, to which Peale replied: “You desire to know if I would be willing to exchange Birds and other subjects of natural history to supply the public museum at Paris [i.e., Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, known to Peale as the "Paris Museum"]—My first Object is to furnish my [own] Museum with all the Various Animals in the several classes and other objects of Natural History belonging to America, and secondly, while I am engaged in this labour, to prepare duplicates with the view of exchanging them for the subjects of the other quarters of the Globe—by which means I hope to inrich my Museum in a mode which I conceive will be most agreable to the Amateurs of this delightful Science on the other side of the Water, who may be desirous of possessing those of America—I mean by a reciprocal exchange of Subject for subject.” (Miller 1988, Selected Papers, Vol. 2, part 1, Yale University Press) / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_Natural_History,_France
For more discussion about Beauvois’s time in Philadelphia, and how he helped Peale catalogue the taxidermy collection, see 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. / https://doi.org/10.1635/053.167.0114
The specimen exchange with the Paris Museum eventually came to pass in the late 1790s, as Peale corresponded with Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1772-1844). On April 30, 1797, in a letter accompanying two cases of specimens, Peale wrote: “I have many Birds which is not described in Catesby, and several, which are not to be found in any of the authors on Natural History duplicates of which I will send you, with all such articles as you may want, and in my power to procure ... I have imbraced [sic] the first coming of the birds this season, and daily with one of my Sons hunt & preserve all we can. We have already mounted a tolerable number of the small birds in a handsome condition—and by constantly shooting ourselves, we are able to gain a knowledge of their manners.” (Miller 1988: 198–199)
Peale wrote to Pierre-Auguste Adet (1763-1834) on 31 May 1798: “with my Son Titian I continue my hunting excursions to collect & preserve Subjects with equal diligence … this year add so many new subjects yet we have got some that are nondescripts—and that while I am increasing my store we find by practice proved—I am anxious to hear from Mr. Geoffroy whether he wishes Birds mounted in the manner of those I have sent or whether he would prefer them without being fixed with wires and mounted on Sticks.” (Miller 1988: 215).
Peale wrote to Geoffrey on 13 July 1802: “Sir, Your favor of the 26 Feby and the Package of Birds I have received—they were in very good condition one or two only excepted.” (Miller 1988: 440)
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Common Swift
Current Scientific Name
Apodidae | Apus apus
