Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 17. (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 17th Lecture (ca. 1799): "230. Minor Grakle. Size of a black bird, length about 10 Inches; the bill is of an orange yellow, light at the point; the nostrils oblong and placed in the middle of the bill near the edge. The feathers on the top of the head are short, like cut velvet, except just in the middle to the hind head, where they are like those of other birds; on each side of the head is a naked membrane beginning beneath each eye, and stretching to the hind head, but not uniting at that part; this is irregular in breadth, loose on the edges, and is of a yellowish colour, subject however to differ in colour at certain seasons of the year, or when the bird is angry or pleased, &c.; the general colour of the plumage is black, glossed with violet, purple, and green in reflections of light; on the quills is a bar of white; the tail is composed of 12 feathers, is 3 Inches in length and even at the end; the feet flesh colour. Gracula religiosa Linn. Le Mainate des Indes Orientales Buff. pl. enl. 268. The white on the wings supposed to be […] by accident on Buffon's coloured plate." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale continued: "This species is found in several parts of the East Indias, in the Isle of Hainan, and almost every Isle beyond the Ganges according to Latham; and is remarkable for whistling, singing, and talking well; much more so than any of the Parrot kind, and in particular very distinct. Its food is of the vegetable kind. It is a very tame and familiar bird in the domesticated state, fond of cherries and grapes; and in Selerne's ornithology it is said if cherries are offered it, and it does not immediately get them, it cries and whines like a young child, till it has obtained its desires." (ANSP Archives, coll. 40)
A "Living Minor bird (dead)" donated by Edward Thompson on 29 May 1824, as recorded in the Peale Museum Accessions Book, p. 100 (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481), may refer to this species or Crested Myna (Acridotheres cristatellus).
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Common Hill Myna
Current Scientific Name
Sturnidae | Gracula religiosa
