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Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Old Man Bird of Jamaica (Cuckoo)
General material designation
Parallel title
Jamaican Lizard-Cuckoo
Other title information
Coccyzus vetula
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Caption title.
- Parallel titles and other title information: Title from Mousley: Saurothera vetula
Level of description
Item
Repository
Reference code
CA RBD MSG BW002-460
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
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Statement of scale (cartographic)
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Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
-
undated (Creation)
- Creator
- Paillou, Peter, approximately 1720-approximately 1790
Physical description area
Physical description
1 watercolour painting ; 56 x 39 cm + 1 leaf
Publisher's series area
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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 Jamaican Lizard-Cuckoo from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: Jamaica.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Notes area
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General note
Manuscript note on front of drawing: Old Man Bird of Jamaica (Cuckoo) (Saurothera vetula)
General note
Manuscript note on back of drawing: Old Man Jamaica Cuckoo & bainbird - Cuculus vetula - Coucoux de la Jamaïque
General note
Scientific name: Coccyzus vetula
Accompanying material
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Accompanying material
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Aves. Picae. Cuculus
4 Vetula. L.N.S. [sic]
Cuculus; cauda cuneiformi, corpore
subfusco: subtus testaceo, ciliis rubris.
Cuculus, cinereus, rostro longiore. Fevill. per. 416
Cuculus major. Sloane. jam 2. p 312. t. 258 f.1-2
Cuculus major olivaceus, cauda longiore,
ciliis rubris Brown, jam. 476.
Cuculus jamaicnois longi roster Briss av. 4
p. 116, t. 17. f. 2.
Picus major Leucophaeus f. canescens, pluviae
avis & senex dictus. Rai. av. 182.
Habitat in jamaica.
Voce clamosiore pluviam praesagit.
Rostrum reliquis longius; rectius.
Cauda longa, apice alba, palpebriae punctis
coccineis. L.S.N. ed. 12. p. 169.
The Great long bill'd Crow
called in jamaica ye Old. Man.
Accompanying material
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Aves. Picae. Cuculus
4 Vetula. L.N.S. [sic]
Cuculus; with a wedge-shaped tail, a somewhat tawny
body that is brick-coloured underneath, and red eyes.
Cuculus cinereus [The ash-coloured...], with a longer beak. Fevill. per. 416
Cuculus major [The large...]. Sloane. jam 2. p 312. t. 258 f.1-2
Cuculus major olivaceus [The large olive-green...], with a longer tail, and red eyes Brown, jam. 476.
Cuculus jamaicnois longi roster [The jamaican long-beaked...] Briss av. 4
p. 116, t. 17. f. 2.
The large ash-coloured grey picus, called the bird of
rain and the old man. Rai. av. 182.
It lives in Jamaica.
It predicts the rain with its loud voice.
The beak is longer than the rest [of cuckoos]; and straighter.
The tail is long, with a white tip, the eyes are pricked
with scarlet. L.S.N. ed. 12. p. 169.
The Great long bill[e]d Crow
called in jamaica [the] Old. Man.
Alternative identifier(s)
Volume number
Birds Volume 5, Painting 33