McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Rock Dove, Rock Pigeon
Columba livia
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 Rock Dove--also known as a Rock Pigeon--from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: worldwide.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Scientific name: Columba livia
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Guinea
Columba rectricibus cinereis apice
nigris orbita oculorum nuda rubra
L.S.N. p. 163
Habitat in Africa
The
Triangular Pidgeon
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Guinea
Columba with ash-coloured flight feathers on the tail with black
tips, and a bare red ring around the eyes.
L.S.N. p. 163
It lives in Africa.
The
Triangular Pidgeon