‘The Taylor bird’
Date
1790
Creator
Peter Mazell (1721, Irish) , Engraver
Object type
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (page): 245mm
width (page): 185mm
height (print): 195mm
width (print): 155mm
width (page): 185mm
height (print): 195mm
width (print): 155mm
Subject
Biology
> Zoology
> Ornithology
Biology
> Natural history
Politics & Government
> Political doctrines
> Colonialism
> Zoology
> Ornithology
Biology
> Natural history
Politics & Government
> Political doctrines
> Colonialism
Content object
Description
Ornithological study of two common tailorbirds, Orthotomus sutorius, referred to here as Motacilla sutoria, in left profile. Only their heads are visible, poking out from beneath their nest, which consists of two leaves stitched together, possibly by plant fibre, and feathers.
Inscribed below: ‘P Mazell Sculp. THE TAYLOR BIRD’
Written in the associated description: ‘It [the bird] picks up a dead leaf, and, surprising to relate, sews it to the side of a living one, its slender bill being its needle, and its thread some fine fibres; the lining, feathers, goffamer, and down.’
Plate 10 from Thomas Pennant’s Indian Zoology (London, 1790), printed by Henry Hughs for Robert Faulder.
Thomas Pennant (1726–1798), British naturalist, traveller, and writer, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1767. Best known for his published accounts of tours throughout the British Isles. He never travelled outside of Europe and his account of Indian Zoology was gleamed from drawings brought back by Joan Gideon Loten (1710-1789), a servant in the colonies of the Dutch East India Company and 29th Governor of Sri Lanka, then Ceylon.
Inscribed below: ‘P Mazell Sculp. THE TAYLOR BIRD’
Written in the associated description: ‘It [the bird] picks up a dead leaf, and, surprising to relate, sews it to the side of a living one, its slender bill being its needle, and its thread some fine fibres; the lining, feathers, goffamer, and down.’
Plate 10 from Thomas Pennant’s Indian Zoology (London, 1790), printed by Henry Hughs for Robert Faulder.
Thomas Pennant (1726–1798), British naturalist, traveller, and writer, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1767. Best known for his published accounts of tours throughout the British Isles. He never travelled outside of Europe and his account of Indian Zoology was gleamed from drawings brought back by Joan Gideon Loten (1710-1789), a servant in the colonies of the Dutch East India Company and 29th Governor of Sri Lanka, then Ceylon.
Related fellows
Thomas Pennant (1726 - 1798, British) , Naturalist
Joan Gideon Loten (1710 - 1789) , Colonial administrator
Joan Gideon Loten (1710 - 1789) , Colonial administrator
Associated place