Skip to main content
Please wait...

Epaulet Oriole (mounted taxidermy)

Object Status:

Extant

Accession Date:

By 1799

Primary Source Reference:

Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 17. (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 17th Lecture (ca. 1799): "No. 198. Yellow winged Oriole. Size of a Lark; length 8 Ins. The Bill, legs and whole plumage Black, except a spot on the lesser wing covers, which are of a fine yellow; tail rounded. Oriolus cayanensis Linn. Le Carouge de L'isle St. Thomas. Buff. pl. enl. 535. Winged Pye. Edwards. 322." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)

Notes:

Peale did not specify the origin of his specimen, but it seems likely to be Cayenne, French Guiana. In 1793, Raphaelle Peale (1774-1825) travelled to Cayenne to collect specimens for Peale's Museum. However, to the editor's (MRH) knowledge, there is no detailed inventory of the specimens he brought back, and there are many examples of specimens from northern South America that were donated by other people. For more discussion about Raphaelle's travels, see Lillian B. Miller, 1993, "Father and Son: The Relationship of Charles Willson Peale and Raphaelle Peale", The American Art Journal 25: 4-161. / https://doi.org/10.2307/1594599

Specimen Type:

Dead/preserved

Current Common Name:

Epaulet Oriole

Current Scientific Name

Icteridae | Icterus cayanensis