Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 38. (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 38th Lecture (ca. 1799): "Perhaps No. 1939. American Swallow, which appears to be a nondescript, may have been taken for that of Europe No. 1937 [i.e., Common House Martin, Delichon urbicum], yet no one comparing them together will say they are the same species. The head & back of this American has a green tinge, the other blue as [mentioned] before; the bill is larger than the European, and the whole bird bigger; the underparts white alike. It is considerably like the St. Domingue Swallow except the under parts, which in Buffons coloured plate is rufous. But in a translation of Buffon it says white, so that there may be a mistake in the colouring. No. 1940. Female, the upper brown reflecting a little blue; the breast not quite so white as the male. I am not certain whether this may not be our bank Swallow." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) described this species under the name "Green-blue, or White-bellied Swallow / Hirundo viridis" in American Ornithology vol. 5 (Pl. 38), where "Peale's Museum, No. 7707" was cited (Wilson 1812: 44). / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175520#page/52/mode/1up (text) / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175520#page/42/mode/1up (plate)
A mounted specimen of "Hirundo viridus (White-bellied S.)" was listed in "A Catalogue of Duplicate Specimens...", May 1822. [unpublished] American Philosophical Society Library (Mss.B.P31).
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Tree Swallow
Current Scientific Name
Hirundinidae | Tachycineta bicolor
