McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Bat Falcon
Falco rufigularis
Item
1 watercolour painting ; 56 x 39 cm
Peter Paillou was born in London into a Huguenot family and was recognised in his own time as an eminent ‘bird painter’. In 1744 he began to paint for Taylor White and worked for him for almost thirty years, painting chiefly birds and mammals. He painted as well for Robert More, Joseph Banks, and for the Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant. Many of his paintings of birds were used as the basis for book illustrations, often engraved by his colleague and fellow Huguenot, Peter Mazell. Paillou was elected to the Society of Artists and in 1763 he exhibited ‘A Piece of Birds, in Watercolours; the Hen of the Wood and Cock of the Red Game’. In 1778, to considerable approval, he also showed a picture of ‘A Horned Owl from Peru’, completely made from feathers.
Drawing of a Bat Falcon from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: Central America and the Amazon.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Scientific name: Falco rufigularis
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Falco
Cera et rostro cinereo. Iridibus
ferrugeniis pedibus nudis Viridibus
palpebris albis capite fusco lineis
Nigris infra occulis usque ad
scinciput [sinciput] et a Rostro super maxillas
extendentibus gula collo pectore
abdomine et femoribus fuscis
maculatis Nigris longitudinalibus
Striatis superiore parte corporis
ex fusco Nigrescat Cauda lineis
nigris Notata
The Black Falcon Edw. p.4
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Falco [The Falcon]
with an ash-coloured cere and beak;
reddish-brown irises, bare green feet,
white eyes, a tawny head with black lines
extending underneath the eyes all the way
to the forehead and from the beak over the upper mandible; a tawny throat, neck, breast,
abdomen, and thighs
marked with black stripes running lengthwise;
with the top part of the body coloured
from tawny to black; and a tail marked
with black lines.
The Black Falcon Edw. p.4