McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Capercaillie
Western Capercaillie, male
Tetrao urogallus
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 male Western Capercaillie from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: Europe and Central Asia.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Manuscript note on front of drawing: Capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus)
Manuscript note on back of drawing: [Sketch of specimen's head and shoulders]
Scientific name: Tetrao urogallus
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Urogallus
Tetrao, pedibus hirsutis rectricibus
exterioribus subbrevioribus. Axillis
albis. L.S.N. p. 159
Habitat in Europae frigidae pinetis
paludosis.
The Cock
of the Wood or Mountain
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Urogallus
Tetrao, with shaggy feet, somewhat shorter
outer flight feathers on the tail; and small white
wings. L.S.N. p.159
It lives in marshy pine-groves in the colder
areas of Europe.
The Cock
of the Wood or Mountain