Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 20. (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 20th Lecture (ca. 1799): "[No.] 431. Ruby Topaz Hummingbird. This, says Marcgrave, is the most beautiful of all the humming-birds; total length 3 Inches & ¼. Bill ¾ of Inch long, and blackish; the top of the head, and hind part of the neck, are as bright as a Ruby, and of the same colour; the under part of the body brown & with a faint mixture of green gold; the throat and fore part of the neck are the colour of the most brilliant topazl the under parts are brown; the tail is rufous purple, inclining to violet at the ends; the two middle feathers shortest; feet and claws blackish. Trochilus moschitus. Linn. L'oiseau-mouche à gorge topaze du Brasil. Buff. pl. enl. 227. f. 2. Ruby necked Hummng Bird Lath. Viewing this bird, we cannot help being surprised at the amazing Brilliancy of the plumage. Therefore I put a quotation from Thompson underneath it…"Who can paint like Nature? Can imagination boast amid its gay creation, hues like hers?" (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale wrote, in "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806): "The eye is caught by the Ruby Hummingbird (T. moschitus) we cannot help being surprised at the amazing brilliancy of its plumage. Therefore under-neath is a quotation from Thompson: '...who can paint like Nature? Can imagination boast amid its gay creation, hues like these'?" (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481)
Notes:
There are also two prints ("Trials in lithography / Philad[elphi]a") of Titian's drawing in the American Philosophical Society Library (Mss.B.P.31.15d).
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Ruby-topaz Hummingbird
Current Scientific Name
Trochilidae | Chrysolampis mosquitus
