McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Gilded Barbet, male
Capito auratus
Item
1 watercolour painting ; 56 x 39 cm
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 Gilded Barbet from a 18th century specimen. Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Scientific name: Capito auratus
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Jynx granadensis
J. nigricans fronte gulaque coccineis, abdomine
flavescente.
J. Torquilla paulo major. Rostrum nigricans
rectum: Mandibula superiore cultrata, tereti.
Caput nigricans, anterius paulo virescens: fronte
coccinea; linea albida supra oculos. Collum,
Dorsum, Alae & Cauda nigricantia, plumis viridi-
bus hinc inde interspersis, praecipue in alis
ubi linea obliqua flavicans. Gula coccinea
Pectus & Abdomen flavicantia. Rectrices apice
obtusae. Pedes nigri: digitis anticis duobus
posticisque duobus.
Obs: Prope nares setae nonnullae nigrae. In
mandibula inferiore fascia videtur obliqua, pallida.
Habitat in Insulis Granadis
The Jacamaciri of Marcgras [Marggrave] Willoughby
p. 139 seems to be of the same Genus.
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Jynx granadensis
J. nigricans [The black jynx] with a scarlet forehead and throat, and a golden-yellow abdomen.
J. Torquilla is a little bigger. The beak is black
and straight. The upper mandible is a rounded knife-shape.
The head is black, with a little green at the front: with a scarlet
forehead; and a white line over the eyes. The neck,
back, wings & tail are black, with green feathers
interspersed all over, especially on the wings
where there is a golden-yellow slanted line. The throat is scarlet
the breast & abdomen are golden-yellow. The flight feathers on the tail
have blunted ends. The feet are black: with two toes to the front
and two to the back.
Obs[ervation]: Near the nares there are several stiff black bristles.
On the lower mandible there is a pale slanting band.
It lives in the Grenadine Islands.
The Jacamaciri of Marcgras [Marggrave]
Willoughby
p. 139 seems to be of the same Genus.