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): "333. Brown head Nuthatch. Plumage cenerious above whitish beneath; head of russet brown; the middle feathers of the tail black. This is a native of Georgia and is only 4 ½ Inches long, perhaps the smallest known. Small Nuthatch Catesby pl. 22. f. 2." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale wrote, in "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806): "Small Nuthatch (S. Pusila) it might be called the brown head as a distinguishing mark of the bird. They are found in Carolina, Georgia, and in Jamaca." (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481)
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) described this species under the name "Brown-headed Nuthatch / Sitta pusilla" in American Ornithology vol. 2 (Pl. 15), where "Peale's Museum No. 2040" was cited (Wilson 1810: 105). / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175511#page/121/mode/1up (text) / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175511#page/118/mode/1up (plate)
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Brown-headed Nuthatch
Current Scientific Name
Sittidae | Sitta pusilla
