Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 14. (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 14th Lecture (ca. 1799): "No. 80. Hawk Owl. Yellow iris; head finely spotted with black and white; back brown, with a few large white spots; primaries of a deep brown & regularly spotted with white on each web; upper part of the belly breast white; lower part and body hansomely [sic] barred with brown and narrow white; feet protected with feathers to the claws. Length 17 inches. Weight 12 oz. Never hatches above two at a time; which for some months after flight, retain a rusty brown plumage. Strix uralensis Linn. Hawk Owl Pennant No. 123. Chouette a longue queue de Sibirie Buff. plate 463." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale continued: "Pennant says "this species is common to north America, Denmark, and Sweden. The savages who come down to Hudson's bay call it Cabetilulch. It flies high, like a Hawk, and preys by day on the White Grous. Like the short-eared owl, will hover over nocturnal fires. Is a bold bird; will [attend] the Fowler, and often steal the game he has shot, before he can pick it up. Was seen by the Navigators near Sandwich sound, in Lat. 61 north. This bird is very frequent in all Sibiria, and on the west side of the Uralian chain, as far as Casan and the Volga; not in Russia." (ANSP Archives, coll. 40)
Peale wrote, in "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806): "The Hawk Owl (Uralensis) is from the north of Europe, we have none like it, indeed there are but few birds belonging to America which perfectly agree with those which are said to inhabit both Continents." (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481)
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) described this species under the name "Hawk Owl / Strix hudsonia" in American Ornithology vol. 6 (Pl. 50). He cited "Peale's Museum, No. 500 (Wilson (1812: 64), which was evidently a European specimen. / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175484#page/86/mode/1up (text) / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175484#page/73/mode/1up (plate)
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Northern Hawk Owl
Current Scientific Name
Strigidae | Surnia ulula
