Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 35. (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 35th Lecture (ca. 1799): "No. 1743. Redstart. With a white front; crown and back deep bluish grey; cheeks & throat black; breast and lower part of the back & sides, red; 2 middle feathers of the tail brown; the rest red. Motacilla phoenicurus Linn. Ressignol de Muraille Buff. pl. enl. 351. No. 1744. Female, head & back ash colour; chin white. It is a native of Europe generally, and visits England about the same time with the nightingale in the spring. They build their nest in holes in walls, and are not shy birds, but will leave the nest if the least disturbed." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale wrote, in his 36th Lecture (ca. 1799): "No. 1824. Motacilla phoeniculus [sic] Linn. Rossignol de Muraille Buff. Redstart. Lath. &c. a young bird." (ANSP Archives, coll. 40)
Rubens Peale (1784-1865) wrote to his father from London on 1 June 1803: "I have got 2 new genera, which are Saxicola and Silvia, of the latter one Sila Pheonicurus, male & female and a young cock" (Miller 1988: 529, Selected Papers, Vol. 2, part 1, Yale University Press).
Peale wrote, in "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806): "Redstart (Ma. Phoenicurus) the male is very different from the female. They build their nest in holes in walls." (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481)
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Common Redstart
Current Scientific Name
Muscicapidae | Phoenicurus phoenicurus
