Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 18. (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 18th Lecture (ca. 1799): "292. Minute Wryneck. It is the size of a wren. 3 ½ inches long. The Bill is black; the upper parts of the head & body are dirty greyish rufous; beautifully marked with small spots of white; the breast & under parts of a greyish white, barred with brown. This is a female. The male has red on the top of the head. Yunx minutissima Linn. La tres petit pic de Cayenne Buff. pl. enl. 786." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale wrote, in "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806): "Minute Woodpecker (P. Minutus) inhabits South America." (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481)
Notes:
Peale did not specify the origin of the specimen described in his lecture, but it seems likely to be Cayenne, French Guiana, a major South American trade center in the 18th century. In 1793, Raphaelle Peale (1774-1825) travelled to Cayenne to collect specimens for Peale's Museum. However, to the editor's (MRH) knowledge, there is no detailed inventory of the specimens he brought back, and there are many examples of specimens from northern South America that were donated by other people. For more discussion about Raphaelle's travels, see Lillian B. Miller, 1993, "Father and Son: The Relationship of Charles Willson Peale and Raphaelle Peale", The American Art Journal 25: 4-161. / https://doi.org/10.2307/1594599
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Golden-spangled Piculet
Current Scientific Name
Picidae | Picumnus exilis
