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Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Shaft-tailed Widow-bird
General material designation
Parallel title
Shaft-tailed Whydah, male and female
Other title information
Vidua regia
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Caption title.
- Parallel titles and other title information: Title from Mousley: Vidua Regina
Level of description
Item
Repository
Reference code
CA RBD MSG BW002-647
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
Physical description area
Physical description
1 watercolour painting ; 56 x 39 cm + 1 leaf
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
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Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
(approximately 1720-approximately 1790)
Biographical history
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.
Custodial history
Scope and content
Drawing of a pair of male and female Shaft-tailed Whydahs from 18th century specimens [modern geographical distribution: Southern Africa.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
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Finding aids
Associated materials
Accruals
General note
Manuscript note on front of drawing: Shaft-tailed Widow-bird (Vidua Regina)
General note
General note
Scientific name: Vidua regia
Accompanying material
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Accompanying material
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Aves Passeres Emberiza
23 Regia
Rectricibus intermediis quatuor longissimis
aequalibus apice tantum pennatis, rostro
rubro.
Vidua viparia africana
Habitat in Africa
Corpus, magnitudine Linariae, nigrum, subtus
rufescens. Collum rufescens. Rectrices interme-
diae 4 rectae toto corpore duplo longiores, tantum
apice lanceolato pinnatae. Pedes rubri.
Accompanying material
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Aves Passeres Emberiza
23 Regia
with four very long equal central tail feathers
with enlarged feathered tips, and a red
beak.
Vidua viparia africana
It lives in Africa.
The body, which is the size of the Linariae, is black, and
reddish underneath. The neck is reddish. There are
four straight central tail feathers that are twice as long as the whole body, with enlarged feathered pointed tips. The feet are red.
Alternative identifier(s)
Volume number
Birds Volume 10, Painting 36