Caprimulgus Vexillarius, Africa, from the auto-lithograph in the Ibis (1864), by Josef (or Joseph) Wolf, 1820-1899. The common name of this distinctive African bird, first illustrated abd described by John Gould in 1838 (see Cleere 182), is the Pennant-Winged Nightjar. Palmer, facing p. 30.
Peyton Skipwith explains in his biography of Wolf that "from 1859-69 he was the regular artist for Ibis the journal of the Zoological Society" — also that Wolf "had realized at an early age that the stance and flight of a bird were as distinctive as its markings."
Scanned image and commentary by Jacqueline Banerjee. You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Bibliography
Cleere, Nigel. "The Pennant-winged Nightjar Macrodipteryxvexillarius (Caprimulgidae), its generic status, synonyms and types." Bulletin of the British Ornithologists Club. 123. 3 (2003). Internet Archive. Web. 4 October 2023.
Palmer, A.H. The Life of Joseph Wolf, Animal Painter. London: Longmans, Green. 1895. Internet Archive, from a copy in the University of California Libraries. Web. 3 October 2023.
Created 4 October 2023