Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 19. (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 19th Lecture (ca. 1799): "300. Ferruginous Woodpecker. This is also a native of Cayenne. The colour is generally of a Ferruginous red, some yellow spots on the wing coverts. Yellow crest, raised up in as the specimen before us; red throat, this wanting in the Female; yellow rump; tail & feet black. Picus connamomeus Linn. Pic jaune de Cayenne Buff. pl. enl. 509. Not good colour. These inhabit Cayenne, Guiana, and other parts of South America." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale wrote, in "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806): "The Ferregenous Woodpecker (P. cinnamomeus) belongs to south America." (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481)
Notes:
The name Picus cinnamomeus Gmelin was later deemed a synonym of Picus elegans Müller, 1776. In 1793, Raphaelle Peale (1774-1825) travelled to Cayenne, French Guiana, to collect specimens for Peale's Museum. However, to the editor's (MRH) knowledge, there is no detailed inventory of the specimens he brought back, and there are many examples of specimens from northern South America that were donated by other people. For more discussion, see Lillian B. Miller, 1993, ""Father and Son: The Relationship of Charles Willson Peale and Raphaelle Peale"", The American Art Journal 25: 4-161. / https://doi.org/10.2307/1594599
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Chestnut Woodpecker
Current Scientific Name
Picidae | Celeus elegans
