McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Red Backed Shrike Woodchat Shrike
Lanius collurioLanius senator
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 Red Backed Shrike from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: Africa, Europe, Central Asia] and a Woodchat Shrike from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: Europe and Equatorial Africa.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Manuscript note on back of drawing: 1. the lesser Butcher Bird called the Yorkshire Flusher Lanius tertius aldrov. W. 88; 2. An African Butcher bird, q. If the 4th sort describ’d by W. p. 8 or the Lanius minor Aldrov.
Scientific name: Lanius collurio / Lanius senator
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Lanius Minor
Capite caeruleo buceis albis Linea
Nigra per occulos transiente subtus
palido [pallido] rufescente dorso et alis
rufescentibus remigibus Nigris
cauda parte superiere [superiore] alba sed
altera parte nigra
The lesser Butcher Bird
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Lanius Minor
with a blue head, white cheeks, and a black
line crossing through the eyes;
a back that is pale red at the bottom, red wings
with black flight feathers;
and a tail that is white at the top
but black lower down.
The lesser Butcher Bird