McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Pileated Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker, male
Dryocopus pileatus
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 male Pileated Woodpecker from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: the United States and Canada (excluding the Great Plains and the Southwest desert regions).] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Manuscript note on front of drawing: Pileated Woodpecker (Ceophloeus pileatus male)
Manuscript note on back of drawing: Picus principalis 2 Linaei
Scientific name: Dryocopus pileatus
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Principalis.
P. niger, crista coccinea, linea utrinque
collari remigibusque secundariis albis.
L.S.N. 113
The largest Black Woodpecker
of Carolina
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Principalis.
P. niger [The chief black pileated woodpecker], with a scarlet crest, a white line on both sides of the neck, and white secondary wing feathers.
L.S.N. 113
The largest Black Woodpecker
of Carolina