Object Status:
Extant
Accession Date:
By 1799
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Lecture on Natural History 20. (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 20th Lecture (ca. 1799): "433. Lesser forked Tailed Humming bird. The whole length of this species is four inches, of which the tail is one inch and a half. The Bill is black and very little curved. The top of the head, and the neck, are of a gilded green colour; the back and breast glossy violet blue; the throat, and lower part of the back gilded green; the lesser wing coverts violet; the greater [coverts] green gold; quills black, as are the tail feathers; the two outer ones longer than the others, rendering the tail forked, but the longest feather is only one inch and a half in length; feet black. Trochilus furcatus Linn. Oiseau mouche violet a queue fourchue. Buff. pl. enl. 599. f. 2. Lesser Fork tailed Humming Bird Lath. No. 7. Inhabits Jamaica, Brasil, and Cayenne." (Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University Archives, coll. 40)
Peale wrote, in "A Walk Through the Philad[elphi]a Museum" (1805–1806): "Here is the … beautiful purple & green, with the forked tail." (Historical Society of Pennsylvania, coll. 0481)
Specimen Type:
Dead/preserved
Current Common Name:
Fork-tailed Woodnymph
Current Scientific Name
Trochilidae | Thalurania furcata
