Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 34. (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 34th Lecture (ca. 1799): "No. 1600. Light red Bill sparrow. This is one of our smallest sparrows, we find the, early in the spring enlivening that charming season, by their pleasing notes, perched on the tops of small trees in the neighborhood of the city. Their light flesh coloured bill distinguishes [them] from other sparrows; the head, back and wings are ferruginous striped with black and grey; all the under parts are a dingy white. No. 1601. Female. plumage like the male. I have examined the description of the American sparrows in various authors, and find it impossible to determine with precision on the several species. This had determined me to endeavour to distinguish our several varieties by the most striking marks of their plumage & to give them names, accordingly, at the same time, if by a further enquiry, I can gain information, I shall be glad to correct myself, and, at all events not to publish such names, before a full investigation of the subject." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale wrote, in "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806): "The light red bill Sparrow is a fine singing bird, and is the first of Sparrows that visit us in the spring." (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481)
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) described this species under the name "Field Sparrow / Fringilla pusilla" in American Ornithology vol. 2 (Pl. 16), where "Peale's Museum No. 6560" was cited (Wilson 1810: 121). / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175511#page/139/mode/1up (text) / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175511#page/134/mode/1up (plate)
Notes:
After Peale's Museum closed, a portion of Peale's bird collection was purchased in 1850 by Moses Kimball (1809–95), who displayed it at his "Boston Museum". An advertisement in the Boston Transcript, printed 1 October 1850, stated that Kimball had acquired "One Half of the celebrated Peale's Philadelphia Museum". The other half of Peale's birds had been sold to the circus promoter P. T. Barnum (1810–91) and would be subsequently destroyed in a fire at his "American Museum" in New York City in July 1865. When the Boston Museum closed, Kimball's Peale remnants passed temporarily to the Boston Society of Natural History, who disposed of them to Charles J. Maynard (1845-1929), a local taxidermist. The specimens were stored in a barn in Massachusetts for several years, then eventually were deposited at the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ), Harvard University. By the time the collection was catalogued by Walter Faxon (1848-1920) at MCZ, in 1914, in virtually every case the original mounts and labels had been disassociated from the specimens, and an untold number were lost. Walter Faxon, "Relics of Peale's Museum," Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 59, no. 3 (July 1915): 137, speculated that MCZ 67859 was "Very likely the type" of Wilson's Fringilla pusilla. This may be true, but Peale had specimens of this species in his collection by 1799, and he had little space (or interest) to display duplicates. / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/6339801#page/187/mode/1up Wilson (1810: viii, American Ornithology, vol. 2) also stated that "no drawings have been, or will be made for this work, from any stuffed subjects, where living specimens of the same can be procured; yet the former serve a very important purpose; they enable the author to ascertain the real existence and residence of such subjects". / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175511#page/14/mode/1up Wilson deposited many specimens at Peale's Museum, after completing his drawings, but the combined evidence from American Ornithology and the Peale Museum Accessions Book (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481) suggests that he deposited probably fewer than 100 skins total (and possibly as few as 40-50), whereas many authors have assumed that all the "Peale numbers" cited in Wilson's work were those of his own specimens (e.g., "he contributed 279 specimens to the collection", Edward H. Burtt, Jr., and William E. Davis, Jr., 2013, Alexander Wilson: The Scot Who Founded American Ornithology, Belknap Press, p. 310). This assumption appears to be based on a misunderstanding — Wilson was citing the numbers to give credit to Peale, to acknowledge his contributions, not to stake a claim to his own specimen deposits. To the editor's (MRH) knowledge, there is no evidence that Wilson deposited a Field Sparrow at Peale's Museum. Despite this uncertainty, the MCZ online database lists MCZ 67859 as the "Holotype of Fringilla pusilla" and the specimen was included in a recently funded grant proposal aimed at "Preserving the genomes of the type specimens in the MCZ (CSBR)" (National Science Foundation, NSF Collections in Support of Biological Research: Award #1946857). / https://mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu/guid/MCZ:Orn:67859
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Field Sparrow
Current Scientific Name
Passerellidae | Spizella pusilla
Repository:
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University (MCZ 67859)
