Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1793
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, letter to Thomas Hall of Moorfields, London, dated 1793; Selected Papers, 2, part 1: 46.
Additional Source Text:
Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827) sent a "small bird with yellow throat black cheeks & greenish collourd back" to Thomas Hall in London, in early 1793, in exchange for European specimens (Miller 1988: 46, Selected Papers, Vol. 2, part 1, Yale University Press).
In his 31st Lecture, Peale wrote: "No. 1296. Yello Throat Thrush. I should rather have called it Black cheek, which is a very conspicuous character of this bird. This black extends from the cheeks over the front of the head, and is joined by a line of light grey, banded in a brown that covers all the upper parts of this bird. The under parts of the breast a sallow white. Turdus trichas Linn. Fauvette a pointrine jaune de la Louisiana Buff. pl. enl. 709. f. 2. Yellow breast Warbler Penn. & Lath. It breeds in Pennsylvania, generally formed in bushes & low grounds, near rills of water. Retires southward in the winter. No. 1297. Female is like the male, except have no black on the cheeks." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale wrote, in "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806): "No. [blank] Black cheek Thrush (T. Trichas) The female has no black on the Cheeks. They breed in Pennsylvania, generally found on bushes in low Ground & near water." (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481)
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) described the adult male under the name "Maryland Yellow-throat / Sylvia marilandica" in American Ornithology vol. 1 (Pl. 6), where "Peale's Museum No. 6902 was cited (Wilson 1808: 88). / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175530#page/110/mode/1up (text) / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175530#page/111/mode/1up (plate)
Wilson also depicted a female of this species in American Ornithology vol. 2 (1810, Pl. 18), in the act of feeding a fledgling of the brood parasitic Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater), but did not provide a citation to the Peale's Museum in that account (see Wilson 1810: 163). / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175511#page/185/mode/1up (text) / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175511#page/166/mode/1up (plate)
An unmounted female specimen of "Motacilla marilandica (Maryland Yellowthroat)" was listed in "A Catalogue of Duplicate Specimens...", May 1822. [unpublished] American Philosophical Society Library (Mss.B.P31).
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Common Yellowthroat
Current Scientific Name
Parulidae | Geothlypis trichas
