Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 19. (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 19th Lecture (ca. 1799): "308. Hairy Woodpecker. Red on the back of the head, crown & back; the cheeks with 2 lines of white and back; whole underside of the body white; back black, divided in the middle lengthways with a line of white unconnected feathers, resembling hairs; the wings black, spotted in rows with white; two middle feathers of the tail black; the 2 outermost entirely white; the rest black, marked cross ways with white. Picus Villosus Linn. Pic varie male de Virginie Buffon pl. enl. 754. Hairy Woodpecker Catesby Pl. 19. f. 2. 309. Female, differs from the male in having no red on the back of the head. 310. A Variety of the male, the red on the back of the head, in two spots." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) described this species under the name "Hairy Woodpecker / Picus villosus" in American Ornithology vol. 1 (Pl. 9), where "Peale's Museum No. 1988" was cited (Wilson 1808: 150). / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175530#page/180/mode/1up (text) / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175530#page/171/mode/1up (plate)
An unmounted specimen of "Picus villosus (Hairy Wr)" from Florida 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 [unpublished] American Philosophical Society Library (Mss.B.P31).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:
Hairy Woodpecker
Current Scientific Name
Picidae | Leuconotopicus villosus
