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. 1749. Stone chat Warbler. head, neck & throat black; but on both sides [of] the throat is a white bar; at first sight it appears to be encircled with white; the feathers on the back are black edged with tawny; the lower part of the back white; wings with white bars, quils disky with russet eyes; breast of reddish yellow. Motacilla rubicola Linn. Traquet Buff. pl. enl. 678. f. 1. Stone chat, Latham & British Zoology." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale continued: "No. 1750. Female. has the colours less vivid. All the upper parts much striped with brown & russet. This bird inhabits dry places, feeds on Insects, and from the character of the bill, which in the specimens before us, has not only the curve at the point but also the notch; on seeing those characters, I had placed it among the last genus Muscicapa, flycatchers, but as Linnaeus, Pennant, & Latham had placed it here [in Motacilla], I have submitted because no diviation of arrangement should take place without absolute necessity. The name of Stone-Chat was probably given it because of its note [resembling] 2 stones struck together." (ANSP Archives, coll. 40)
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
European Stonechat
Current Scientific Name
Muscicapidae | Saxicola rubicola
