McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Northern Goshawk, female
Accipiter gentilis
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 female Northern Goshawk from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: North America, Europe, and Asia.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Scientific name: Accipiter gentilis
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Falco gentilis
F. cera pedibusque flavis, dorso cinereo, abdomine
lutescente maculis longitudinalibus fuscis,
cauda fasciis quatuor nigricantibus.
Linn: Syst: Nat: p.89. 12.
Descriptio Linnei in Fauna fuecica p.20 n.58
bona est, adde quod cauda corpore paulo longior
sit, adeoque pone alas extenditur. Rectrices 12.
Remiges primariae sex, secundariae decem & sex.
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Falco gentilis
F. [The gentle falcon] with a golden-yellow cere and feet, an ash-coloured back, a yellow abdomen
with tawny elongated patches,
and a tail with four black bands.
Linn: Syst: Nat: p.89. 12.
Linnaeus' description in Fauna fuecica p.20 n.58
is good, but add to this that the tail is a little longer than the body, as far as it extends beyond the wings. There are 12 flight feathers on the tail. There are six primary wing feathers, and 16 [literal: 10 and 6] secondary wing feathers.