Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1805
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, 21st Lecture (ca. 1799) memorandum. n.d. Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40. / https://ansp.org/research/library/archives/0000-0099/coll0040/
Additional Source Text:
An undated scrap of paper tucked into Peale's 21st lecture manuscript (ca. 1799) contains a scribbled list of duck species, which includes "Teal of Botany Bay — pretily [sic] barred with brown & white with a Pink spot behind the Eye, remarkably long bills" (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40). This undated source presumably predates the "Walk" essay (1805-1806).
Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) wrote, in "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806): "In the other Case we find a [pair] of remarkably long billed Ducks which look like teal from Botany Bay, perhaps not described. They are brown & — pretily [sic] barred with russet white – and have a Pink spot behind the Eye." (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481)
Notes:
Peale's failure to identify these specimens indicates that he had not consulted the recently published work of his colleague John Latham (1740-1837), in which the species was described (Latham 1801, Supplementum indicis ornithologici). / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/313412#page/75/mode/1up
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Pink-eared Duck
Current Scientific Name
Anatidae | Malacorhynchus membranaceus
