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Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Mangrove Cuckoo
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Coccyzus minor
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on 2019 species identification.
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Repository
Reference code
CA RBD MSG BW002-464
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Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
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Physical description area
Physical description
1 watercolour painting ; 56 x 39 cm
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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 Mangrove Cuckoo from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: the Caribbean, Central America, and Florida; occasionally found on the Atlantic coast of South America and the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
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General note
Scientific name: Coccyzus minor
Accompanying material
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Aves Picae Cuculus
Cuculus ciliatus
C. supra brunneus, subtus griseus, cauda corpore
longiore; rectricibus apice albis.
Magnitudo C. canori. Totus supra brunneus,
subtus griseus. Rostrum nigrum. Nares ovatae.
Annulus nudus circa Oculos, saturate ruber:
Palpebra superior ciliis validioribus ciliata:
inferior paucis brevibusque tantummodo
instructa. Remiges 18 supra brunneae, subtus
dilutiores. Cauda corpore longior: Rectricibus
duodecim apice albis, supra brunneis subtus
e fusco nigricantibus, lateralibus dimidio
brevioribus, intermediis per paria sensim
longioribus. Pedes nigri: digitis duobus
anticis, totidemque posticis.
Habitat in Insulis Granadis.
Descript. solander.
an Cayanus N. 14 L.S.N. ed. 12
Accompanying material
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Aves Picae Cuculus
Cuculus ciliatus
C. brown on top, grey underneath, with a tail that is
longer than the body; and white-tipped flight feathers on the tail.
It is the size of the C. Canori. It is completely brown on top,
and grey underneath. The beak is black. The nares are egg-
shaped. There is a bare dark-red ring around the eyes;
the upper eyelid has stiffer bristles,
the lower eyelid is covered with only a few short hairs. There
are 18 flight feathers on the wings that are brown on top and
paler underneath. The tail is longer than the body. There are
12 flight feathers on the tail with white tips;
they are brown on top and coloured from tawny to black underneath, with
those on the sides shorter by half, and those in the middle, in
pairs, only just longer. The feet are black, with two toes to the
front, and the same number to the back.
It lives in the Grenadine Islands.
It is described by Solander.
an Cayanus N. 14 L.S.N. ed. 12
Alternative identifier(s)
Volume number
Birds Volume 5, Painting 36