Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 19. (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 19th Lecture (ca. 1799): "No. 359. Green headed Kingfisher. Lath I. 2. p. 620. N. 11. Martin-pêcheur à tête verte du Cap de Bonne Espérance Buff. pl. enl. N. 783. It however differs from the plate in having the under bill white and the white spot near the nostrils. Alcedo chlorocephala Linn. This came from Java." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale wrote, in "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806): "No. 2182. Green headed Kingfisher (A. chlorocephala) inhabits the Molucca Islands." (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481)
Notes:
Peale's assertion that this species occurs in South Africa (i.e., Cape of Good Hope) was an error apparently introduced by Buffon. The subspecies from Java has since been recognized as T. chloris palmeri.
The editor (MRH) has been unable to confirm the source of Peale’s specimens from Java, Indonesia, but there is ample reason to suspect that he received them from Thomas Horsfield (1773-1859), the physician and naturalist. In 1799, Horsfield, who was born and raised in southeast Pennsylvania, and educated at the University of Pennsylvania, took a medical post on the merchant ship China, which sailed to Java. He remained there until 1819, during which time he collected specimens on behalf of Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (1781-1826), governor of the Dutch East Indies. In January 1799, before he left for Java, Horsfield visited Peale’s Museum and purchased a ticket “for the year 1799 which intitles [sic] the Purchaser to the use of the Museum every day while the Sun is above the Horizon. Each Ticket [cost] two Dollars.” His signature (“Thos. Horsfield”) appears in a Peale Museum Subscription Book (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481). / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Horsfield
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Collared Kingfisher
Current Scientific Name
Alcedinidae | Todiramphus chloris
