Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 31. (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 31st Lecture (ca. 1799): "No. 1284. Missel Thrush. This is the largest of the genus, and weights near five ozes. Its length is 11 Inches; its breath 16 ½. The bill is shorter and thicker than other Thrushes; dusky, except the base of the lower mandible, which is yellow. The irides hazel. Head, back, and lesser coverts of the wings are deep olive brown. The lower part of the back tinged with yellow. Cheeks and throat mottled with brown and white; breast whitish yellow, marked with large spots of black. Feet yellow. Turdus viscivorus Linn. Missel Draine Buff. pl. enl. 489. Missel Thrush Penn; & Latham." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale continued: "No. 1285. Female, is not so bright, otherwise they are marked alike. This bird inhabits England the whole year, though in some parts of Europe is observed to be migratory. It is found in Sweden, Denmark, and the wester parts of Russia; on the other, Itally, comes into Burgundy in october and november, from the mountains of Lorraine; returning to them, in order to breed, inmarch & april. They build a nest in bushes or low trees; make it of twigs and line the inside with fine whithered grass, lay 4 or 5 eggs of a dirty flesh colour, spotted. This bird has a very agreable song; which it frequently begins with the entrance of the new year; sitting on the top of a tree, and may be heard a great distance, varying its note without end; but in melody is much inferior to the [Song Thrush, T. philomelos]." (ANSP Archives, coll. 40)
Peale wrote, in "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806): "Missel Thrush (T. viscivorus) is the largest of the genus. It has a very agreable song; which it frequently begins with the entrance of the new year, sitting on the top of a Tree, and may be heard a great distance, varying its note without end; but in melody is much inferior to the Trostle Thrush (T. musicus) [=T. philomelos] which W. Pennant says is the finest of singing birds in England, not only for the sweetness and variety of its notes, but for the long continuance of its harmony; for it obliges them with its song for 3 parts of the year." (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481)
On 15 August 1806, a shipment from Thomas Hall that included "Mistle Thrush. M. F. [male, female]" was entered into the Peale Museum Accessions Book, p. 17 (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481).
A mounted specimen of "Turdus viscivorus (Missel Thrush)" from Europe was listed in "A Catalogue of Duplicate Specimens...", May 1822. [unpublished] American Philosophical Society Library (Mss.B.P31).
Notes:
Thomas Hall (ca.1746-1813) was a natural history dealer and showman in London who, like Peale, assembled a collection of exotic taxidermy and natural oddities in his home, which he displayed to paying customers. Hall’s museum was known by the names “Curiosity House” and “Finsbury Museum”, and he distributed tokens advertising himself as “The first artist in Europe for preserving Birds, Beasts &c.” Today, many of these tokens are preserved in the British Museum. / https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG145361 Peale proposed a specimen exchange with Hall, in a letter dated 28 April 1792: “I therefore make you the proposal of sending you all the Variety of this Country, for an Equal number of European [species] … which shall be preserved in the best manner (of which I now feel myself fully equal to) and sent and that I may be prepared for such an exchange I am now using every means in my power to Collect and preserve the Birds of the present season … I have not time to give you any description of such as I suppose are peculiar to this part of America, and I find that every year I discover some kinds that I had not known before, and from what I have read, I find that those who have attempted the Natural History of this Country [were] generally deficent of inteligence [sic].” (Miller 1988: 31–32, Selected Papers, Vol. 2, part 1, Yale University Press). Peale announced in June 1792 that he was “busily employed in preserving the Birds of our Country [the United States] in order to furnish [himself] with such a number of duplicates as [would enable him] to make an extensive exchange” with Hall, and with institutions in Sweden and Holland (Miller 1988: 37). During his travels in London, Rubens Peale (1784-1865) wrote to his father on 1 June 1803: “I wish you to inform me in the next [letter] how you stand with Hall, recolleckting that I have had from him a considerable number of subjects in return from what I let him have.” (Miller 1988: 529) The final specimen deposit from Hall was recorded in the Peale Museum Accessions Book on 17 August 1806 (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481).
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Mistle Thrush
Current Scientific Name
Turdidae | Turdus viscivorus
