McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
The green or Military Macaw
Great Green Macaw
Ara ambiguus
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 Great Green Macaw from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: Middle America and South America.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Manuscript note on front of drawing: The green or Military Macaw (Ara militaris)
Scientific name: Ara ambiguus
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Macao Viridis Cristatus
Psittacus macrourus, cauda cunei
formi rostro Nigro genis coccineis nudis.
Iridibus albidis pedibus nigris, fronte rubro
Capite crista Dorso et alis viridibus
Uropigio Caeruleo Splendente Cauda
Caerulea media rubra.
The Green Macaw
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Macao Viridis Cristatus
Psittacus macrourus, [The green crested macaw] with a wedge-
shaped tail, black beak, and bare scarlet cheeks;
white irises, black feet, and a red forehead;
a crested head, green back and wings,
a bright blue rump, and a blue tail
with red in the middle.
The Green Macaw