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. 233. Boat tailed Grakle. The bill sharp, black, and 1 ½ Inch long; it is naked at the base, and the upper mandible bent; the general colour of the plumage black, with a gloss of purple, especially on the upper parts; the edges of the quills and tail have a tinge of the same; the wings reach to the middle of the tail, which is wedge-shaped, five inches and a half long; the feet & claws black; the latter very stout & hooked. Gracula barita Linn. Boat tailed Grakle Lath." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale continued: "There occurs in this bird a singularity not observed in any other, which is, the folding up the tail feathers like a Dunghill fowl, but reversed, which it carries expanded, when on the ground; & folding it up in that singular manner, when flying. These birds are always found among the Purple Grakle [Common Grackle, Quiscalus quiscula] & Marsh black birds [Red-winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus]. 234. Female. only differs from the male by having less brilliant reflections of plumage." (ANSP Archives, coll. 40)
Peale wrote, in "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806): "Boat tailed Grakle (Gracula barita). It is so called because of the folding up the tail feathers, like the Dung hill Fowl, but reversed, which it carries expanded, when on the ground; and folding it up in that manner when flying." (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481)
Charles Lucien Bonaparte (1803–1857) described this species under the name "Great Crow-Blackbird / Quiscalus major" in his continuation of American Ornithology vol. 1 (1825, Pl. 4), where "Peale's Museum, No. 1582, Male; [and] No. 1583, Female" were cited (Bonaparte 1825: 35). / https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AFKPEJIASN54OC8L/pages/A7I4642D…
On 17 July 1818, Lewis Schrack of New York donated a "Variety of the Boat Tail Black bird shot at Norristown Penna." as recorded in the Peale Museum Accessions Book, p. 93 (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481).
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Boat-tailed Grackle
Current Scientific Name
Icteridae | Quiscalus major
