McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Stock Dove
Columba oenas
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 pair of Stock Doves from 18th century specimens [modern geographical distribution: Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Scientific name: Columba oenas
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Columba
Rostrum rectrum [rectum] verus [versus] apicem
descendens nares oblingae [oblongae]
membrana molli tumida
semitectae Lingua intergra [integra]
The
Dove Kind
Oenas
Columba caerulescens collo supra
virida oritente [nitente] fuscia alarum apiceq[ue]
cauda Nigrante. L.S.N. p 162
The
Wild Pidgeon
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Columba
The beak is straight and slopes towards the tip,
the nares are oblong
and half covered by a soft protuberant membrane;
the tongue is whole.
The
Dove Kind