McGill Library
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Indian Paradise Flycatcher ad. [male]
Indian Paradise-Flycatcher, male
Terpsiphone paradisi
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 Indian Paradise-Flycatcher from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: India and Southeast Asia.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Manuscript note on front of drawing: Indian Paradise Flycatcher ad. [male] (Terpsiphone paradisi)
Manuscript note on back of drawing: Corvus Paradisi Linaei; the oriental Pyed bird of paradise
Scientific name: Terpsiphone paradisi
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Paradisi
C. albo nigroque varius cauda cuneiformi
remigibus intermediis longissimis,
capite nigro cristato: L.S.N. p.107
Habitat in Insula Zeylonica
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Paradisi
C. spotted with white and black, with a wedge-shaped tail,
very long flight feathers in the middle of the wings,
and a black crest on the head. L.S.N. p.107
It lives on the island of Ceylon.