Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 34. (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 34th Lecture (ca. 1799): "No. 1593. Blue bellied Finch. it is the size of our small sparrows. 4 ¾ Inches long. Bill light at the base and black at the point. Top of the head, neck, back & wings Brown; Cheeks, throat, breast & under parts a beautiful light blue; on the blue of the cheeks, below & back of the eyes spots of bright purple; the tail, sooty blue. Fringilla bengalus Linn. Le Bengali Buff. pl. enl. 115. f. 1. The female is of same colour but wanting the purple spots on the cheeks. Edwards has given a plate of one No. 131. They are found on the coast of Angola in Africa & at Bengal." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale wrote, in "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806): "Blue bellyed Finch (F. Bengalis) is a beautiful bird of India." (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481)
Notes:
Peale was evidently mistaken about its place of origin. George Edwards (1694-1773), the English naturalist, who first depicted the species in A Natural History of Uncommon Birds vol. 3 (1750, Pl. 131), shown here, stated that his specimen was acquired from “settlements on the Coast of Angola, in Africa." / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/249976#page/86/mode/1up
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Red-cheeked Cordonbleu
Current Scientific Name
Estrildidae | Uraeginthus bengalus
