Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 27. (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 27th Lecture (ca. 1799): "No. 953 & 954. Is a pr. Brought from England where they are pretty common. Their general plumage is of a sooty brown and white under the tail. That which I suppose to be the female is a little lighter under the throat & breast. The feet are yellowish green, and the toes but little skinny membranes. Fulica atra Linn. La Foulque, ou Morelle Buff. pl. enl. 197. Common Coot Latham. Pennant No. 416." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale wrote, in "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806): "Coots inhabit almost every country: authors say they are in Greenland, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Siberia, Persia, and China. They are also in N & S America. observe the large scalloped webs of the feet of the American Mud-hens differing from that of Europe along side of them, yet authors call them the same. the latter the toes are only flat and broad. the difference of colour may be from different seasons of the year when taken. / Sportsmen are at a loss to know what becomes of those birds in the winter; their wings are so short that they can scarcely fly across a small creek. yet they disappear when cold weather begins. Their cry is a kind of Chuck, very deceiving; at times the bird seems close at hand, heard again, sounds as if at a great distance." (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481)
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Eurasian Coot
Current Scientific Name
Rallidae | Fulica atra
