Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 13. (ca. 1799). Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40. / https://ansp.org/research/library/archives/0000-0099/coll0040/
Additional Source Text:
Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) wrote, in his 13th Lecture (ca. 1799): "No. 25.Swallow-tailed Falcon, or Snake Hawk, with a black bill, less hooked than usial with rapacious birds; iris red; head, neck and belly of snowy whiteness; black coverts of the wings, and scapulars, black, glossed with purple and green; inner webs of the primaries and secondaries white towards their base; the tertials white; tail of the same colour of the back; and most extremely forked; the outermost feather above 8 inches longer than the middlemost; the legs yellow." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale continued: "This [specimen] was taken alive in Pennsylvania, but is a rare bird with us. They are found in the southern states only in the summer season. Like swallows, they feed flying; for they are much on the wing and prey on various insects. They are said to prey upon Lizards and Snakes, which have given them the name of Snake-Hawk. Pennant conjectures that they retreat to Peru in winter; as a proof, he says one was taken in the South Sea about the latitude 23 South. Falco furcatus Linn. Catesby i. 4." (ANSP Archives, coll. 40)
In "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806), Peale briefly mentioned the "swallow tailed falcon" (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481).
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) described this species under the name "Swallow-tailed Hawk / Falco furcatus" in American Ornithology vol. 6 (Pl. 51), where "Peale's Museum, No. 142" was cited (Wilson 1812: 70). / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175484#page/94/mode/1up (text) / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175484#page/90/mode/1up (plate)Specimen Type:
Live (later taxidermied)
Current Common Name:
Swallow-tailed Kite
Current Scientific Name
Accipitridae | Elanoides forficatus
