Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
23 March 1821
Primary Source Reference:
Peale Museum Accessions Book, 23 March 1821. Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481.
Additional Source Text:
Titian Ramsay Peale (1799-1885) deposited "1 Pigeon" on 23 March 1821, after returning from the Long Expedition, as recorded in the Peale Museum Accessions Book (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481). He also deposited an original pencil and ink sketch (shown here), which is inscribed with his field catalog number "65" (American Philosophical Library, Mss.B.P.31.15d). This field sketch was undated, but executed on the same laid paper (no watermark) used for other field sketches from the Long Expedition.
Thomas Say (1787-1834), in Edwin James, 1823, Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains..., vol. 2, p. 10 (Philadelphia), wrote: "A beautiful species of pigeon was shot near the mountain ... It may be distinguished by the name of band-tailed pigeon (Columba fasciata) and may be seen with other specimens of natural objects, collected in this expedition, in the Philadelphia Museum." / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/124315#page/22/mode/1up
Charles Lucien Bonaparte (1803–1857) described this species under the name "Band-tailed Pigeon / Columba fasciata" in his continuation of American Ornithology vol. 1 (1825, Pl. 8). Bonaparte (1825: 77) cited "Peale's Museum, No. 4938" and wrote: "This bird, which is a male, was shot in July, by Mr. Titian Peale, at a saline spring on a small tributary of the river Platte, within the first range of the Rocky Mountains; it was accompanied by another individual, probably its mate, which escaped … no other specimens have been discovered." / https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AFKPEJIASN54OC8L/pages/AR7WJRDU… (text) / https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AFKPEJIASN54OC8L/pages/AIGVN2XX… (plate)
Notes:
Here, for simplicity, we state that Titian R. Peale (1799-1885) deposited the Long Expedition specimens at Peale's Museum. However, it should be noted that the specimens did not belong to Titian, and were not his to give away. Officially, they were the property of the United States government, and as such were formally deposited by Major Stephen Harriman Long (1784-1864), who led the government-sponsored expedition. The Peale Museum Accessions Book, pp. 112-113 (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481) contains an "Invoice of Zoological Specimens and Drawings prepared by Titian Peale, Assistant Naturalist for the Exploring Expedition, and deposited in the Philadelphia Museum by Majr. S. H. Long, Maj. U.S. Engr. pursuant to instructions of the Secretary of War." At the conclusion of the invoice, "Rubens Peale [1784-1865], manager" signed the following statement: "Received, Philadelphia Museum, March 23d. 1821. of Majr. S. H. Long, the several articles, specified in the above Invoice, as a deposit for safe keeping, preservation and Exhibition; and I hereby promise, as agent for the Institution to hold the said articles subject to the orders of the War Department, thru the said Maj. Long." (HSP, coll. 0481)
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Band-tailed Pigeon
Current Scientific Name
Columbidae | Patagioenas fasciatus
