Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 26. (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 26th Lecture (ca. 1799): "874. Black breasted Sandpiper. The Bill is black, one Inch long; the throat and back of the neck white; the breast and sides of the neck black; the back, wings and end of the tail, russet red & black; striped on the top of the head with black and white; under parts of the body white. It is found in May on the sea coast from Cape May to New York, but does not stay there more than one or two weeks [before] going more northerly to breed. The colours are so distinct in this bird as to make it readily known, therefore it will not be difficult by enquiry to known in what other parts of America it may be met with." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale wrote, in "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806): "Those of America [include] the … Black breasted Sandpiper." (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481)
Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) described this species under the name "Turn-stone / Tringa interpres" in American Ornithology vol. 7 (Pl. 57), where "Peale's Museum, No. 4044" was cited (Wilson 1813: 32). / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175507#page/40/mode/1up (text) / https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/175507#page/41/mode/1up (plate)
An unmounted juvenile specimen of "Tringa interpres (Turnstone)" 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 [unpublished] American Philosophical Society Library (Mss.B.P31).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:
Ruddy Turnstone
Current Scientific Name
Scolopacidae | Arenaria interpres
