Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 36. (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 36th Lecture (ca. 1799): "No. 1789. Black throat Warbler. The head, neck, back & coverts of the wings, a slaty blue; throat & sides of the neck black; breast and under parts white; primaries & tail dusky. Motacilla canadensis Linn. Le Figuier cendré de Canada Buff. pl. enl. 685. f. 2. Blue Flycatcher Edwards t. 252. It is said to go as far northward as Canada in the summer. It arrives in Pennsylvania in April. Migrates in winter to the Antiles, and returns in the Spring." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale also described a specimen that seems likely to have been the female of this species: "No. 1797. Brown Warbler. This is a female. I do not know the male. I have given it for the present this name, as all the upper parts are brown; a single white bar on the wings; the throat, breast and all the under parts are a sallow white. Found near Philad[elphi]a." (ANSP Archives, coll. 40)
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) described the male of this species under the name "Black-throated Blue Warbler / Sylvia canadensis" in American Ornithology vol. 2 (Wilson 1810, Pl. 15), where "Peale's Museum No. 7222" was cited (Wilson 1810: 115). / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175511#page/131/mode/1up (text) / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175511#page/118/mode/1up (plate)
Wilson (1812) described the female under the name "Pine-Swamp Warbler / Sylvia pusilla" in vol. 5 (Wilson 1812, Pl. 43), without a Peale Museum citation (Wilson 1812: 100). / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175520#page/118/mode/1up (text) / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175520#page/108/mode/1up (plate)
Notes:
Wilson evidently overlooked Peale's female specimen of this species. For a full discussion, see Matthew R. Halley, 2024, "Return to the ‘Great Pine Swamp’ of Alexander Wilson", Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 144(1): 48-72.
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Current Scientific Name
Parulidae | Setophaga caerulescens
