Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1828
Primary Source Reference:
Peale Museum Accessions Book, 23 March 1821. Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481.
Additional Source Text:
Titian Ramsay Peale (1799-1885) deposited "1 Grouse" on 23 March 1821, as recorded in the Peale Museum Accessions Book (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481), which may have been this species; although, another species was also collected by the expedition, now called Dusky Grouse (Dendragapus obscurus).
Charles Lucien Bonaparte (1803–1857) described this species under the name "Sharp-tailed Grous / Tetrao phasianellus" in his continuation of American Ornithology vol. 3 (1828, Pl. 19). Bonaparte (1828: 37) cited "Philadelphia Museum, Female" and wrote: "The expedition of Major Long brought a specimen now in the Philadelphia Museum, from which, though a female, and unusually light coloured, we have had our drawing made, on account of it having been procured on American territory." Bonaparte's plate was based on a drawing by Alexander Rider, engraved by Alexander Lawson (ca.1772-1846). / https://search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AFKPEJIASN54OC8L/pages/AB7DBFAF…
An undated list of 21 bird specimens in Charles Willson Peale's (1741-1827) handwriting includes an unidentified "Grouse" (American Philosophical Society Library, Mss.B.P31).
Notes:
Here, for simplicity, we state that Titian R. Peale (1799-1885) deposited the Long Expedition specimens at Peale's Museum. However, it should be noted that the specimens did not belong to Titian, and were not his to give away. Officially, they were the property of the United States government, and as such were formally deposited by Major Stephen Harriman Long (1784-1864), who led the government-sponsored expedition. The Peale Museum Accessions Book, pp. 112-113 (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481) contains an "Invoice of Zoological Specimens and Drawings prepared by Titian Peale, Assistant Naturalist for the Exploring Expedition, and deposited in the Philadelphia Museum by Majr. S. H. Long, Maj. U.S. Engr. pursuant to instructions of the Secretary of War." At the conclusion of the invoice, "Rubens Peale [1784-1865], manager" signed the following statement: "Received, Philadelphia Museum, March 23d. 1821. of Majr. S. H. Long, the several articles, specified in the above Invoice, as a deposit for safe keeping, preservation and Exhibition; and I hereby promise, as agent for the Institution to hold the said articles subject to the orders of the War Department, thru the said Maj. Long." (HSP, coll. 0481)
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Sharp-tailed Grouse
Current Scientific Name
Phasianidae | Tympanuchus phasianellus
