Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 15. (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 15th Lecture (ca. 1799): "No. 95. Wood Chat Shrike. Bill horn colour; feathers round the base whitish; hind part of the head and neck bright bay; a band of black passes over the fore part of the head through the eyes on each side of the neck, dark back; white on the lower parts of the back; wings dark with white covert feathers & white patch on the pinion feathers; white throat & belly; tail black, with white outer feathers & tipped with white at the ends. Lanius collurio Linn. Pie-Griêche Rousse. Buff. col. p. 9. / [No.] 96. the female [has a] russet brown back, head the same with a mixture of lead colour – wings & tail dark brown; throat, breast, and side grey white with similular [sic] lines of brown. These are European birds; I received them by exchange from France." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
On 30 August 1802, Peale wrote "Lanius Cellurio Linn. Escorcheur Buff pl. enl. n. 31. f. 2.—The female is still good" in a letter to Rubens Peale (1784-1865), his son, in reference to specimens in the museum that were "totally destroyed by dermest[id] beetles" or in otherwise poor condition and in need of replacement (Miller 1988: 451, Selected Papers, Vol. 2, Part 2, Yale University Press). However, the identity of these pecimens s is unclear because Peale evidently confused this species with the Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio).
Five mounted specimens of "Lanius collurio (Butcher Bird / Woodchat)" were listed in "A Catalogue of Duplicate Specimens...", May 1822. [unpublished] American Philosophical Society Library (Mss.B.P31). These too cannot be identified.
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Bull-headed Shrike
Current Scientific Name
Laniidae | Lanius bucephalus
