McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
West Indian Whistling Duck
Dendrocygna arborea
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 West Indian Whistling Duck from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: the Caribbean, Central America, Hawaii, the Pacific Islands, and Australia.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Scientific name: Dendrocygna arborea
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Arborea
Anas. grisea, capite subcristato,
abdomine albo nigroq[ue] maculato.
L.N.S. [sic] p. 128
habitat in America
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Arborea
Anas. grisea [The grey...] with a somewhat crested head,
and a spotted white and black abdomen.
L.N.S. [sic] p. 128
It lives in America.