McGill Library
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Black Crowned Night Heron
Nycticorax nycticorax
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 Black Crowned Night Heron from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Scientific name: Nycticorax nycticorax
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Aves Anseres Plotus
1 Anhinga
Plotus L.S.N ed. 12o p. 118
Anhinga Margr bras. 219. Will. orn. 250. t. f. 1
Raj. av. 124. n. 7. Briss. av. 6. p. 477.
Habitat in America australi;
more serpentum, contracto prius longiore
colle, ejaculatur rostrum in Pisces.
Collum longum. Pedes breves digitis omnibus
connexis. Caput tomentosum plumis minutissimis
No. 31.
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Aves Anseres Plotus
1 Anhinga
Plotus L.S.N. ed. 12o p. 118
Anhinga Margr bras. 219. Will. Orn. 250. t. f. 1
Raj. Av. 124. n. 7. Briss. Av. 6. p. 477.
It lives in South America;
in the manner of a snake, after contracting its rather long neck, its beak shoots forward when fishing.
The neck is long. The feet are short with all the
toes joined. The head is covered in a mass of very short feathers.
No. 31.