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. 1772. Golden Winged Warbler. The top of the head is a fine yellow; a broad bar of black surrounds the Eyes; a line of white above and another below the black; the throat and lower part of the neck black; a large spot of gold colour on the superior coverts of the wings; the upper parts of the body of a lead colour; and the breast white. Motacilla chrysoptera Linn. Figuier aux ails dorées Buff. Golden Winged Flycatcher Edwards glean. t. 299. Golden Winged Warbler. Penn. & Lath. This species is also found with us in the spring only: going to the northward to breed." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
In a draft copy of "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806), Peale listed "Golden winged W. (M. chysoptura), rare" (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481). The page of the final draft containing this species is not located.
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) described the adult male of this species under the name "Golden-winged Warbler / Sylvia chrysoptera" in American Ornithology vol. 2 (Pl. 15), where "Peale's Museum No. 7010" was cited (Wilson 1810: 113). / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175511#page/129/mode/1up (text) / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175511#page/118/mode/1up (plate)
Charles Lucien Bonaparte (1803–1857) described an adult female, which Titian Ramsay Peale (1799-1885) collected in Camden, New Jersey, under the name "Golden-winged Warbler / Sylvia chrysoptera" in his continuation of American Ornithology vol. 1 (1825, Pl. 9), where "Philadelphia Museum, No. 7010, Male; [and] No. 7011, Female" were cited (Bonaparte 1825: 12). Titian's drawing was engraved by Alexander Lawson (ca. 1772-1846) for the work, as shown here. / https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AFKPEJIASN54OC8L/pages/AMHWTYD7… (text) / https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AFKPEJIASN54OC8L/pages/A6LH6WZR… (plate)
Notes:
Bonaparte (1825: 12) wrote: "The female of this pretty little Warbler, hitherto unknown to any naturalist, is now figured and described for the first time.” However, there is evidence that Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) collected a specimen in the 1780s. For a full discussion, see Matthew R. Halley, 2018, "Jefferson's Ornithology Reconsidered", Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 162: 231-258. / https://www.jstor.org/stable/45211596
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Golden-winged Warbler
Current Scientific Name
Parulidae | Vermivora chrysoptera
