Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1 June 1797
Notes:
Egerton (1962, Wilson Bulletin 74: 104-107), in a heated review of Cantwell (1961, Alexander Wilson: Naturalist and Pioneer, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott), wrote: "Mr. Cantwell shows that he has no understanding of procedures in systematics when he states that it is an injustice for Wilson to receive credit in ornithological literature for naming the Black-billed Cuckoo, which was pointed out to him by John Abbot [1751-1840]. "Credit" is not given to honor the finder, but to stabilize the name of the species, and it is only given for an adequate published description, which in this case never came from Abbot." / https://www.jstor.org/stable/4159031 With respect to scientific nomenclature, Egerton (1962) was correct. However, he may have softened his tone, had he realized the extent of Peale's knowledge, and that he had delivered an account of this species to a public audience. Wilson clearly learned about the Black-billed Cuckoo from Peale—not Abbot—because the species was already mounted by 1797 in the Philadelphia Museum, where Wilson first visited in 1804, but Wilson did not meet Abbott until 1809, during his travels in Georgia. / For the timing of these events, see Matthew R. Halley, 2022, "Rediscovery of the holotype of the American Goshawk, Accipiter gentilis atricapillus (Wilson, 1812), and a commentary about Alexander Wilson’s contributions to the Peale Museum", Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 167: 233-240. / https://doi.org/10.1635/053.167.0114 / and Clark Hunter, 1983, Life and Letters of Alexander Wilson, p. 86, Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. Jeff Holt, ca. 2006, "Alexander Wilson, Poet to Ornithologist", Cassinia 71: 17-32, citing Cantwell (1961), also attributed the discovery of the Black-billed Cuckoo to Abbot, overlooking Peale. / https://dvoc.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/C71_17_32.pdf
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Black-billed Cuckoo
Current Scientific Name
Cuculidae | Coccyzus erythropthalmus
