Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By October 1805
Notes:
This species was presumed to be conspecific with the Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica) until the 1820s, when the American species was distinguished as Corvus hudsonius (now Pica hudsonia) by Joseph Sabine (1770-1837) in J. Franklin, 1823, Narrative of a journey to the shores of the Polar Sea, in the years 1819, 20, 21, and 22, London: J. Murray. / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32215478#page/761/mode/1up Here, for simplicity, we state that Titian R. Peale (1799-1885) deposited the Long Expedition specimens at Peale's Museum. However, it should be noted that the specimens did not belong to Titian, and were not his to give away. Officially, they were the property of the United States government, and as such were formally deposited by Major Stephen Harriman Long (1784-1864), who led the government-sponsored expedition. The Peale Museum Accessions Book, pp. 112-113 (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481) contains an "Invoice of Zoological Specimens and Drawings prepared by Titian Peale, Assistant Naturalist for the Exploring Expedition, and deposited in the Philadelphia Museum by Majr. S. H. Long, Maj. U.S. Engr. pursuant to instructions of the Secretary of War." At the conclusion of the invoice, "Rubens Peale [1784-1865], manager" signed the following statement: "Received, Philadelphia Museum, March 23d. 1821. of Majr. S. H. Long, the several articles, specified in the above Invoice, as a deposit for safe keeping, preservation and Exhibition; and I hereby promise, as agent for the Institution to hold the said articles subject to the orders of the War Department, thru the said Maj. Long." (HSP, coll. 0481)
Specimen Type:
Live (later taxidermied)
Current Common Name:
Black-billed Magpie
Current Scientific Name
Corvidae | Pica hudsonia
