Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
17 February 1795
Primary Source Reference:
Gazette of the United States, 17 February 1795.
Additional Source Text:
On 17 February 1795, a notice in the Gazette of the United States (Philadelphia) announced the donation to the Peale Museum from a Capt. Navill of "The Toucan or Bill-Bird, alive.—This extraordinary Bird is from Cayenne, South-America. Its bill, which is almost as large as the body, is not more extraordinary than its tongue, which resembles a feather; therefore, by some of the Brazilians, it is called the Feather-Tongued Bird. Presented by Captain Nevill."
Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) wrote, in his 16th Lecture (ca. 1799): "The Toucan which I had alive was of the species that have these large Bills. It died when not in condition to be preserved." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Bellvue Soisson donated an unidentified toucan on 15 June 1805, as recorded in the Peale Museum Accessions Book (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481).
The addition of a skeleton of "the Toucan, Dissected for the Museum," was announced in the Aurora General Advertiser on 28 November 1806.
Notes:
Seven species of toucans (Family Ramphastidae) occur in French Guiana, in multiple genera. Therefore, without more information, the specific identity of these specimens is uncertain. A watercolor painting of Keel-billed Toucan (Ramphastos sulfuratus) by Titian Ramsay Peale (1799-1885), shown here and preserved at the American Philosophical Society Library (Mss.B.P.31.15d), was likely executed during his travels in Colombia in 1830, after his father's death. It was executed on wove paper with the following watermark: "JWHAT[MAN] / 1830." On 28 June 1831, after returning from Colombia, "one box of birds from T. R. Peale Cartegena" was deposited at the museum, according to the Peale Museum Accessions Book (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481). The specific contents of that deposit are not known. For more about Titian's travels in Colombia, see Verónica Uribe Hanabergh, 2020, "Titian Ramsay Peale's 1831 'Obscure Expedition to Colombia': Status Quaestionis of the Sketches at the American Philosophical Society". H-ART. Revista de historia, teo-ría y crítica de arte 7: 287-312. / https://doi.org/10.25025/hart07.2020.13
Specimen Type:
Live (later taxidermied)
Current Common Name:
Unidentified toucan
Current Scientific Name
Ramphastidae | Unidentified
