Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
23 March 1821
Primary Source Reference:
Peale Museum Accessions Book, 23 March 1821. Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481.
Additional Source Text:
Titian Ramsay Peale (1799-1885) deposited a collection of "Sundry small Birds, [and] Anatomical preparations" on 23 March 1821, after returning from the Long Expedition, which presumably included male and female specimens (Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481). He also deposited a "finished" drawing of "Oriole. M&F", which probably refers to an extant drawing with pencil annotations that read “Oriolus icterocephalus L.” and “killed near the Ottoes Village 14th May 1820” (American Philosophical Society Library, Mss.B.P31.15d). This colored drawing (shown here from both sides) was executed on high-quality wove paper with a "J Whatman / 1815" watermark.
Thomas Say (1787-1834), in Edwin James, 1823, Account of an expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains… vol. 1, p. 373 (Philadelphia), included "[Oriolus] icterocephalus — Yellow headed oriole" among the birds in the "Appendix to Chapter XVI", referring to specimens deposited in Peale's Museum. / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/124314#page/391/mode/1up
Charles Lucien Bonaparte (1803–1857) described this species under the name "Yellow-headed Troopial / Icterus icterocephalus" in his continuation of American Ornithology vol. 1 (1825, Pl. 3), where "Peale's Museum, No. 1528, Male; [and] No. 1529, Female" were cited (Bonaparte 1825: 27). The male and female from Titian's drawing were engraved by Alexander Lawson (ca.1772-1846) for Plate 3 of Bonaparte's work. / https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AFKPEJIASN54OC8L/pages/AYU42HFM…
Notes:
Here, for simplicity, we state that Titian R. Peale (1799-1885) deposited the Long Expedition specimens at Peale's Museum. However, it should be noted that the specimens did not belong to Titian, and were not his to give away. Officially, they were the property of the United States government, and as such were formally deposited by Major Stephen Harriman Long (1784-1864), who led the government-sponsored expedition. The Peale Museum Accessions Book, pp. 112-113 (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481) contains an "Invoice of Zoological Specimens and Drawings prepared by Titian Peale, Assistant Naturalist for the Exploring Expedition, and deposited in the Philadelphia Museum by Majr. S. H. Long, Maj. U.S. Engr. pursuant to instructions of the Secretary of War." At the conclusion of the invoice, "Rubens Peale [1784-1865], manager" signed the following statement: "Received, Philadelphia Museum, March 23d. 1821. of Majr. S. H. Long, the several articles, specified in the above Invoice, as a deposit for safe keeping, preservation and Exhibition; and I hereby promise, as agent for the Institution to hold the said articles subject to the orders of the War Department, thru the said Maj. Long." (HSP, coll. 0481)
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Current Scientific Name
Icteridae | Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus
