McGill Library
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Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Blue Jay or Indian Roller
General material designation
Parallel title
Indian Roller
Other title information
Coracias benghalensis
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Caption title.
- Parallel titles and other title information: Title from Mousley: Coracias indica
Level of description
Item
Repository
Reference code
CA RBD MSG BW002-445
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
Physical description area
Physical description
1 watercolour painting ; 56 x 39 cm + 1 leaf
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
(approximately 1720-approximately 1790)
Biographical history
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.
Custodial history
Scope and content
Drawing of an Indian Roller from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: India, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
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Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Associated materials
Accruals
General note
Manuscript note on front of drawing: Blue Jay or Indian Roller (Coracias indica)
General note
Manuscript note on back of drawing: Coracius Zeylonica. From Zeylon giving to the British Museum by the Govr
General note
Scientific name: Coracias benghalensis
Accompanying material
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Accompanying material
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Aves Picae Coracias
Zeylonicus
C. Rostro Nigro fronte et genibus luteis
vertice viride. Dorso fusco humeris caeruleis
Tectricibus viridibus uropigio Caeruleo
Remigibus et Rectricibus glaucis
Splendentibus Apicibus Caeruleis et
facia Caerulea in Media Remigium
ad Caudam protracta Pectore
rubescente.
Habitat in Insula Zeylon
The Jay of Ceylon.
N.B. this Bird is in the British Musaeum
The Gift of the Govr of Ceylon
Accompanying material
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Aves Picae Coracias
Zeylonicus
C. with a black beak, a yellow forehead and cheeks,
and a green crown; a tawny back, blue shoulders,
green covert feathers, and a blue rump;
bright bluish-green flight feathers on the wings and tail,
with blue tips and
a blue band in the middle of the flight feathers on the wings that extends to the tail, and a
red breast.
It lives on the island of Ceylon.
The Jay of Ceylon.
N.B. this Bird is in the British Musaeum
The Gift of the Gov[ernor] of Ceylon
Alternative identifier(s)
Volume number
Birds Volume 5, Painting 18
Standard number area
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- British Museum (Natural History) (Collector)