Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
By 1805
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, "A Walk through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805-1806). Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481.
Additional Source Text:
Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) listed "Prothonotary W. (M. proton […] male & female)" in a draft copy of "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805-1806). The page of the final draft containing this species has not been located. Search the website for Blue-winged Warbler (Vermivora cyanoptera) for more information about how Peale confused these species.
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) mentioned this species in a letter to "Mr. Rubens Peale / Museum" dated "Philadelphia, Thursday 22 [November] 1810", in which Wilson wrote: "A. Wilson's Compts. To Mr. Peale with a specimen of … The Prothonotary Warbler" (Hunter 1983: 376, Life and Letters of Alexander Wilson, Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society).
Wilson subsequently described it under the name "Prothonotary Warbler / Sylvia protonotarius" in American Ornithology vol. 3 (Pl. 24), where "Peale's Museum, No. 7020" was cited (Wilson 1811: 72). / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175516#page/88/mode/1up (text) / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175516#page/83/mode/1up (plate)
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Peale's Common Name:
Prothonotary Warbler
Peale's Scientific Name:
Motacilla pronotarius
Current Common Name:
Prothonotary Warbler
Current Scientific Name
Parulidae | Protonotaria citrea
