McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Pallid Harrier, male
Circus macrourus
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 male Pallid Harrier from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: Europe, Africa, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Scientific name: Circus macrourus
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Aves Accipitres Falco
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Aves Accipitres Falco
10 Cyaneus L.S.N. ed: 126. p.126
10 The Falcon with a golden-yellow cere and feet, a greyish-
blue body, a white arched eyebrow stripe,
and a ringed throat.
It lives in Europe and Africa.
The Blue Falcon
This Bird was drawn from a very
fine specimen in British museum.
it varies from the description of Lineus
who describes the cere to be white & the
feet fulvus with I supose to mean a
clay colour. but this variety may arise from
age or sex. painted july 1771