Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 36. (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 36th Lecture (ca. 1799): "No. 1805. Marsh Wren. This also, I believe has not been described. The top of the head, deep brown, almost black; the back of the neck also brown, spotted with white; back wings and tail brown, tail barred with black; wing quills the same; throat and upper part of the breast dingy white, lower part of the breast brown; over the Eyes, a white line which extends to the hind head. They are smaller than the common wren. Their nest is made of course or a sort of flag, commonly in the crotch of a scrubby bush, surrounded by marsh. The entrance into the nest is very small, and low on the side." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale wrote in (unlocated pages of) "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806): "Marsh Wren and its curious nest", according to Franklin L. Burns, 1932, "Charles W. and Titian Ramsay Peale and the Ornithological Section of the Old Philadelphia Museum", Wilson Bulletin 44, 23–35. Peale wrote "Marsh Wren W[arbler] & its nest" in a draft copy. (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481)
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) described this species under the name "Marsh Wren / Certhia palustris" in American Ornithology vol. 2 (Pl. 12), where "Peale's Museum No. 7282" was cited (Wilson 1810: 58). / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175511#page/68/mode/1up (text) / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175511#page/57/mode/1up (plate)
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Marsh Wren
Current Scientific Name
Troglodytidae | Cistothorus palustris
