Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 16. (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 16th Lecture (ca. 1799): "No. 141. The sapphire crowned Parrakeet. from Samatra [=Sumatra, Indonesia]. General colour green; on the crown of the head a round spot of Blue; on the lower part of the back of the neck, orange-coloured cressent; throat a fine red; tail upper covert feathers red. Psittacus galgulus Linn. Parruche de Philippines Buff. pl. enl. 520. No. 142. The female of the preceeding. it differs in having no red on the throat, nor the orange mark beneath the hind head. The size of these Parrakeets is about 5 Inches long. Latham page 311. No. 119. A note in the margin of the entry for the female reads: "(Taken out)." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Notes:
The plate to which Peale referred (Martinet’s “Parruche de Philippines,” pl. enl. 520) depicts the Philippine Hanging Parrot (Loriculus philippensis), but Peale's description of a specimen from Sumatra matches Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot (L. galgulus), which was depicted by Martinet (pl. enl. 190, figure 2 - shown here) with an erroneous label, stating it was from South America (“Petite Perruche, du Pérou"). This may explain why Peale overlooked it. The editor (MRH) has been unable to confirm the source of Peale’s specimens from Java and Sumatra, Indonesia, but there is ample reason to suspect that he received them from Thomas Horsfield (1773-1859), the physician and naturalist. In 1799, Horsfield, who was born and raised in southeast Pennsylvania, and educated at the University of Pennsylvania, took a medical post on the merchant ship China, which sailed to Java. He remained there until 1819, during which time he collected specimens on behalf of Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (1781-1826), governor of the Dutch East Indies. In January 1799, before he left for Java, Horsfield visited Peale’s Museum and purchased a ticket “for the year 1799 which intitles [sic] the Purchaser to the use of the Museum every day while the Sun is above the Horizon. Each Ticket [cost] two Dollars.” His signature (“Thos. Horsfield”) appears in a Peale Museum Subscription Book (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481). / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Horsfield
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Blue-crowned Hanging-Parrot
Current Scientific Name
Psittaculidae | Loriculus galgulus
