McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Black and yellow Creeper
Bananaquit
Coereba flaveola
Item
1 watercolour painting ; 56 x 39 cm + 1 leaf
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 pair of Bananaquits from 18th century specimens [modern geographical distribution: the Caribbean, the Central America Highlands, the Highlands and the coast of South America (excluding Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina).] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Manuscript note on front of drawing: Black and yellow Creeper (Certhiola bahamensis)
Manuscript note on back of drawing: Certhia flaveolans Linaei; A Creeper from Jamaick
Scientific name: Coereba flaveola
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Flaveola
C. nigra, uropygio pectoreque luteo, superciliis
macula alarum rectricumque apicibus albis.
L.S.N.p 119
Habitat in America
The Yellow Creeper
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Flaveola
C. nigra, [The black…] with a yellow rump and breast, white eyebrow stripes, a white patch on the wings and white tips on the flight feathers on the tail.
L.S.N. p 119
It lives in America
The Yellow Creeper