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Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Eurasian Sparrowhawk
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Accipiter nisus
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on 2019 species identification.
Level of description
Item
Repository
Reference code
CA RBD MSG BW002-382
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)
-
undated (Creation)
- Creator
- Paillou, Peter, approximately 1720-approximately 1790
Physical description area
Physical description
1 watercolour painting ; 56 x 39 cm
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
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Numbering within publisher's series
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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 Eurasian Sparrowhawk from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: Europe, Asia, and East Africa.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Language of material
Script of material
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Finding aids
Associated materials
Accruals
General note
Scientific name: Accipiter nisus
Accompanying material
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Falco alpinus
F. cera pedibusque flavis, dorso cineres, abdomine
albido fasciis transversalibus fuscis, cauda
fasciis quatuor nigricantibus.
An sexu tantummodo a F. gentili distinctus;
differt tamen evidenter quod totus subtus albi-
dus fasciis crebris fuscis transversalibus; in
singula scilicet pluma fasciae numerantur
tres quatuor vel quinque; ipsa rachis etiam
fusca, unde quasi lineis longitudinalibus
notatus. Femora etiam fasciis angustis trans-
versalibus praedita. Alias autem F. gentili
Linnei simillimus quoad Caput, Dorsum, Alas
& Caudam, quae corpore longior est; ejusdem
etiam est magnitudinis; cauda 11 unciae &
corpus 9 unciae mensuratur. Rectrices
duodecim. Remiges primariae sex; secun-
dariae decem & sex.
Habitat in Norvegia
Accompanying material
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Falco alpinus [The alpine falcon]
F. with a golden-yellow cere and feet, an ash-coloured back, a white abdomen
with tawny horizontal bands, and a tail
with four black bands.
It can perhaps be distinguished from the F. gentili [the gentle falcon] by sex;
nevertheless, it clearly differs because its whole underside
is white with an abundance of tawny horizontal bands;
indeed on each feather there are
three, four, or five bands; and even the shaft itself
is tawny, and so it looks as though it is marked with lines running
lengthwise. The thighs also have narrow horizontal bands.
In other ways, however, it is similar to Linnaeus' F. gentili
[gentle falcon] with respect to the head, back, wings
and tail, which is longer than the body; and it is even
of the same size [as the F. gentili]; the tail measures 11 inches
and the body measures 9 inches. There are twelve flight feathers
on the tail. There are six primary feathers; and 16
[literal: 10 and 6] secondary feathers.
It lives in Norway
Alternative identifier(s)
Volume number
Birds Volume 4, Painting 9