McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Parrot
Maroon-tailed Parakeet
Pyrrhura melanura
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 Maroon-tailed Parakeet from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: the Neotropics, Peru, and Brazil.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Manuscript note on front of drawing: Parrot
Manuscript note on back of drawing: a little parrot from the West Indies
Scientific name: Pyrrhura melanura
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Psitticus: Brachyurus Viridis rostro
et pedibus griseis. Iridibus rubris
cerculis Albidis circumferentibus
Temporibus flavis vertice Gula et
Collo viridibus. pectore et Adbdomine
luteis. dorso et alis viridis tamen
maculo luteo infra humeros. remigibus
caeruleis tectricibus cocceniis [coccineis] cauda
viride subtus in medio Coccinea.
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Psitticus: Brachyurus Viridis [The green parrot] with a grey beak and feet; red irises
encircled with white rings,
golden-yellow temples, a green crown, throat
and neck; a yellow breast and abdomen;
a green back and wings but
with a yellow patch on the inner part of the shoulders;
blue flight feathers on the wings, scarlet covert feathers,
and a green tail that is scarlet underneath in the middle.