Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
31 August 1795
Primary Source Reference:
New-York Gazette, 31 August 1795.
Additional Source Text:
A notice in the New-York Gazette on 31 August 1795 announced the acquisition of "The Quam, or Rudy (male and female) birds of South-America, alive, Presented by Mr. Harrison."
Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) wrote, in his 28th Lecture (ca. 1799): "No. 1041. Guan. Is a native of South America, and is also found in several of the West India Islands. They are esteemed excellent eating. In the domesticated state they become very familiar, but they cannot endure the severity of our winters. I have had several of them alive during the summer months, and except those which I kept in a warm chamber, they all died on the approach of cold weather. The size of these birds are between the common fowl and turkey, the tail being long makes them measure about 2 feet & a half long." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale continued: "The sides of the head covered with a naked purplish blue skin, in which the eyes are placed; beneath the throat, for 2 Inches, the skin is loose, of a fine red colour, and covered only with a few hairs; the top of the head is furnished with long feathers, which the bird can erect as a crest at will; the general colour of the plumage, brownish black, glossed with copper in some lights; but the wing coverts have a greenish and violet gloss; the quills most incline to purple; the fore part of the neck, breast and belly are marked with white spots; thighs, under tail coverts, and the tail itself, brownish black; the legs are red, the claws black. Some of these birds have little or no crest, and are supposed to be females. It is the Penelope cristata Linn. Guan or Quan of Edwds t. 13. Lath. Syn. II. 2. p. 680." (ANSP Archives, coll. 40)
Peale wrote, in "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806): "Next allied to the Turkey are a genus termed Penelope, the species of which some authors call Pheasants and others Turkies. Guan (P. cristata) is a native of South America. In the domesticated state they become very familiar and might be a desirable bird here could they bear the rigor of our winters." (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481)
Notes:
Because most of Peale’s South American material came from French Guiana, the identity of his guan is more likely P. marail than the visually similar P. purpurascens, which is restricted in South America to parts of southern Venezuela and eastern Ecuador.
Specimen Type:
Live (later taxidermied)
Current Common Name:
Marail Guan
Current Scientific Name
Cracidae | Penelope marail
