McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Chestnut coloured Woodpecker?
General material designation
Parallel title
Chestnut Woodpecker
Other title information
Celeus elegans
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Caption title.
- Parallel titles and other title information: Title from Mousley: Calées elegans Female?
Level of description
Item
Repository
Reference code
CA RBD MSG BW002-330
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 a Chestnut Woodpecker from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: the Amazon Rainforest.] 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
Restrictions on access
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Associated materials
Accruals
General note
Manuscript note on front of drawing: Chestnut coloured Woodpecker? (Calées elegans Female?)
General note
General note
Scientific name: Celeus elegans
Accompanying material
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Accompanying material
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Picus ferrugineus
P. cristatus ferrugineus, cauda nigricantes.
Magnitudo P. medii Linn: Totus rufescenti ferru-
gineus, sed Caput supra & Pennae longiores
quae cristam formant, parum lutescunt.
Tectrices alarum maculis paucis pallidis
adspersae. Alae subtus fuscae fasciis dilute
ferrugineis. Uropygium lutescens. Cauda
nigricans acuta: Rectricibus decem,
acuminatis, intermediis longioribus.
Rostrum flavicans. Pedes livido fuscae.
Habitat in Insulis Granadis.
The Chesnut colour'd Woodpecker.
Accompanying material
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Picus ferrugineus
P. cristatus ferrugineus [The reddish-brown crested woodpecker] with a black tail.
It is the size of the P. medii Linn: The whole bird is reddish-brown, but the top of the head and the longer feathers which make up the crest, are a slightly muddy colour.
The covert feathers of the wings are splattered with a few pale spots. The wings are tawny underneath with pale-reddish-brown bands. The rump is yellow. The tail
is pointed and black: with ten flight feathers
that are pointed, and the middle ones are longer.
The beak is golden-yellow. The feet are tawny-blue.
It lives in the Grenadine islands.
The Chesnut colour[e]d Woodpecker.
Alternative identifier(s)
Volume number
Birds Volume 2, Painting 22