Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 30 May 1799
Notes:
Witmer Stone (1866-1939) was evidently unaware of the extent of Peale's collection and his collecting effots at Cape May and Delaware, in the late 18th century, when preparing his classic work, Bird studies at Old Cape May, Philadelphia: Delaware Valley Ornithological Club). In his second volume, Stone (1937: 881) assumed that Wilson's (1808) account was the earliest for this species, lamenting: "The Summer Tanager seems to have been very much more plentiful in southern New Jersey on hundred years ago than it is today and we have but meager information on its decrease ... Whether it was as plentiful as Wilson infers may be open to question as it is difficult to explain how such a bird should have been practically exterminated." Stone's suspicion seems well founded because Peale, who collected extensively in southern New Jersey before Wilson, acquired most of his specimens in Maryland, and wrote (ca. 1799): "They do not come much father north than Maryland. I have never found them in my hunting excursions near Philada."
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Summer Tanager
Current Scientific Name
Cardinalidae | Piranga rubra
