McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Common Loon
Red-throated Loon, immature or nonbreeding
Gavia stellata
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 an immature or possibly non-breeding Red-throated Loon from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: Europe, the United States, Canada, Northeastern Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Manuscript note on front of drawing: Common Loon (Gavin immer)
Scientific name: Gavia stellata
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf:
Aves Anseres Colymbus
Troile
2 Colymbus, pedibus palmatis, tridactilis
corpore nigro, pectore abdomineq[ue] niveo,
marginibus secundis, apicis albis, L.S.N. 220 ed. nov.
Habitat ad & infra Circulum Articum [Arcticum].
This Bird I had from Mr Bank &
I supose he brought it from Canada
but am not certain.
No 33
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf:
Aves Anseres Colymbus
Troile
2 Colymbus, with palmate three-toed feet,
a black body, a snow-white breast and abdomen,
and white borders and white tips on the secondary feathers. L.S.N. 220 ed nov.
It lives near and within the Arctic circle.
This Bird I had from Mr Bank &
I supose he brought it from Canada
but am not certain.
No 33