McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Muscovy Duck
Muscovy Duck, domestic type
Cairina moschata
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 domestic type Muscovy Duck from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: the United States, Central America, South America, Europe, Southern Africa, and Australia (this specimen is also rare in Southeast Asia).] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Manuscript note on front of drawing: Muscovy Duck (Cairina moschata)
Scientific name: Cairina moschata
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Moschata
Anas fascie [facie] nuda papillosa
faemina. L.S.N. p. 124
Habitat in India
The Muscovy Duck
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Moschata
Anas with a bare pimpled face;
the female. L.S.N. p. 124
It lives in India.
The Muscovy Duck