Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
By 1802
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, letter to Étienne Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire dated 13 July 1802; Selected Papers, 2, part 1: 442.
Additional Source Text:
Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) wrote to Étienne Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire (1772-1844) at the Paris Museum on 13 July 1802: "I have the Barn Owl Strix flammea of Linn: found in the Vicinity of Philada. only in 2 instances in 16 years. They very much resemble some of the […] which I received from London. It is possible those found here might have been brought [from Europe] in some ship from Europe [?]" (Miller 1988: 442, Selected Papers, Vol. 2, part 1, Yale University Press).
In his 14th Lecture, Peale wrote: "No. 77. Common Barn Owl. This is an American bird, but very rare, being the second I have seen taken in the vicinity of Philadelphia in 20 years. I have preserved the same name that is given to those found in Europe, where they are common, as they very much resemble each other. Strix Flammea Linnaeus. Buffon coloured p. 440. not good. This is Pennant's description: '[long quote taken verbatim from Pennant].' Pennant's description does not quite agree with the subject before us. / The French Encyclopedia says: 'the feathers are smooth and soft to the touch, to the Eye they have the luster of Silk; all the upper parts are waved with intermixed lines, some grey and others brown, traced in zig-zag, strewed with little white points on a ground of clear yellow.' In fact, this [specimen] is covered with an infinate number of delicate spects of white and purplish brown colour upon a yellow ground." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
In the same lecture, Peale wrote: "No. 81. Common Barn-Owl. This is from England. Here, we have an opportunity of compairing it with one of America. The comparison, however, cannot be compleat until we possess a [pair] of each country, for the difference between these [specimens] before us, may be a difference of sex. Yet in every species of Animal which has yet come under my notice (according to my present recollection) there has always been some stricking difference, and these [specimens] appear as nearly alike, as any species of Animal I have yet seen. The head, back and under parts appear exactly similar in this and the American species No. 77. The size of the birds are nearly equal. The only difference between them, is, that the American Bird has the wing quills barred with brown the whole length – which part in that from England is wholly white." (ANSP Archives, coll. 40)
Peale wrote, in "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806): "…the common Owl (Flammia) of Europe & Asia … is sometimes found in the vicinity of Philada. The only difference between them, is the bars on the quill feathers, in all other parts of their plumage they are perfectly alike." (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481)
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) described this species under the name "White, or Barn Owl / Strix flammea" in American Ornithology vol. 6 (Pl. 50), where "Peale's Museum, No. 486" was cited (Wilson 1812: 52).
Charles Lucien Bonaparte (1803–1857) deposited a specimen of "Strix flamea" in the Peale Museum on 10 October 1827, according to the Peale Museum Accessions Book (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481).
Notes:
After Peale's Museum closed, a portion of Peale's bird collection was purchased in 1850 by Moses Kimball (1809–95), who displayed it at his "Boston Museum". An advertisement in the Boston Transcript, printed 1 October 1850, stated that Kimball had acquired "One Half of the celebrated Peale's Philadelphia Museum". The other half of Peale's birds had been sold to the circus promoter P. T. Barnum (1810–91) and would be subsequently destroyed in a fire at his "American Museum" in New York City in July 1865. When the Boston Museum closed, Kimball's Peale remnants passed temporarily to the Boston Society of Natural History, who disposed of them to Charles J. Maynard (1845-1929), a local taxidermist. The specimens were stored in a barn in Massachusetts for several years, then eventually were deposited at the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ), Harvard University. By the time the collection was catalogued by Walter Faxon (1848-1920) at MCZ, in 1914, in virtually every case the original mounts and labels had been disassociated from the specimens, and an untold number were lost. Walter Faxon, "Relics of Peale's Museum," Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 59, no. 3 (July 1915): 135, speculated that MCZ 67849, a data-deficient specimen from the Boston Museum collection, "Appears to be the original of Wilson's figure." Faxon's claim may be true, but Peale had this species in his collection by 1802 and had little room (or interest) to display duplicates. / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/6339801#page/185/mode/1up Wilson (1810: viii, American Ornithology, vol. 2) also stated that "no drawings have been, or will be made for this work, from any stuffed subjects, where living specimens of the same can be procured; yet the former serve a very important purpose; they enable the author to ascertain the real existence and residence of such subjects". / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175511#page/14/mode/1up Wilson deposited many specimens at Peale's Museum, after completing his drawings, but the combined evidence from American Ornithology and the Peale Museum Accessions Book (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481) suggests that it was probably fewer than 50 skins, whereas many authors have assumed that all the "Peale numbers" cited in Wilson's work were those of his own specimens (e.g., "he contributed 279 specimens to the collection", Edward H. Burtt, Jr., and William E. Davis, Jr., 2013, Alexander Wilson: The Scot Who Founded American Ornithology, Belknap Press, p. 310). This assumption appears to be based on a misunderstanding — Wilson was citing the numbers to give credit to Peale, to acknowledge his contributions, not to stake a claim to his own specimen deposits. If Burtt & Davis (2013) were correct, the "Catalogue of Duplicate Specimens" (APS Library, Mss.B.P31) would be full of Wilson's specimen deposits—but this is not the case. No duplicates of Barn Owl are listed. To the editor's (MRH) knowledge, there is no evidence that Wilson deposited a Barn Owl at Peale's Museum.
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Barn Owl
Current Scientific Name
Strigidae | Tyto alba
Repository:
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University (MCZ 67849)
