Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 35. (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 35th Lecture (ca. 1799): "No. 1676. Yellow Throat Flycatcher. The top of the head down to the shoulders is an olive green; the lower part of the back tending to cenerious. Wing quills and tail are almost black with white edges, which on the wings when folded gives it a double row of white bars. yellow on the base of the upper mandible and over the eyes. The throat and upper part of the breast yellow, which changes into white lower down. No. 1677. Female wants the yellow over the eyes, otherwise much like the male. I do not find either these or the white eyes just described [White-eyed Vireo, Vireo griseus] taken notice of by Authors of Natural History." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
In "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806), Peale compared this nondescript species to the White-eyed Vireo (V. griseus): "White eyed flycatcher (this we consider a proper name for the same reason, besides it distinguishes it from another species, of the same size, and much like it, except that it has a yellow throat" (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481).
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) described this species under the name "Yellow-throated Flycatcher / Muscicapa sylvicola" in American Ornithology vol. 1 (Pl. 7), where "Peale's Museum No. 6827" was cited (Wilson 1808: 117). / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175530#page/143/mode/1up (text) / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175530#page/132/mode/1up (plate)
Notes:
The female of this species does have yellow above the eyes, but this character may be unintentionally obscured by the taxidermist, if the eyes are slightly depressed and the crown feathers fall over the eyes.
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Yellow-throated Vireo
Current Scientific Name
Vireonidae | Vireo flavifrons
