Falco albicilla Linnaeus 1758
Creators: name: Schmitt, Stéphane
name: Gouraud, Christophe
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Aves
Accipitriformes
Falconidae
Falco
Falco albicilla

description: 6. Buffon’s “Pygargue” (full species)    6.1. Linnaeus (1758: 89): “ FALCO ALBICILLA ”  G41, S8, order “ Accipitres ”. This species includes a North American variety (see below 8.1).   
 REFERENCES (WITHOUT THE VARIETY). — Linnaeus (1746: [19] no. 58), “ Falco cera flava; rectricibus albis, versus apices nigris ”, based on direct observation in Sweden, and reference to Belon, Gessner, Willughby, and Ray; Belon (1557: 15 ro), “ Pygargus, Janleblanc, Oyseau saint Martin ”; Gessner (1585: 205), “ Pygargus ”; Aldrovandi (1599:[205]), “ Pygargus ”; Willughby (1676: 31), “ Pygargus seu Albicilla quibusdam Hinnularia ”, direct observation; Ray (1713: 7 no. 5), “ Pygargus, Albicilla Gazae, quibusdam Hinnularia ”.   
DISTRIBUTION (INCLUDING THE VARIETY). — Europe, America.  
 MODERN IDENTIFICATION. — * Haliaeetus albicilla (Linnaeus, 1758) according to the diagnosis and most of the mentioned sources, not least the Fauna Svecica (Linnaeus 1746), as well as Willughby (1676) and Ray (1713), who write that they observed a freshly killed bird in Venice in 1664. However, Belon’s “Jan-le-blanc” is probably * Circus cyaneus (Linnaeus, 1766) (Glardon in Belon [1997: 410]), and the “ Pygargus ” of Gessner and Aldrovandi (who rely on a tradition going back to the Antiquity) combines elements relating to * Haliaeetus albicilla and to * Circus cyaneus (Springer & Kinzelbach 2009: 180).   
 MODERN NOMENCLATURE. — Falco albicilla Linnaeus, 1758 is an available and valid name, the protonym of the name currently in use for the species; “Restricted type locality, Sweden, ex Fn. Suec.” according to Peters (1931: 258), who relied on Linnaeus (1761: 19).   
  6.2. Brisson (1759a: 427-429, 1762: 25, 1763a: 123-124): “ AIGLE À QUEUE BLANCHE ”, “  AQUILA ALBICILLA  ” , species 5 of genus IX (“Aigle”, “ Aquila ”), order III, section 1.   
OBSERVATION. — No direct observation. Description mainly borrowed from Willughby.  
 REFERENCES. — Willughby (1676: 31); Ray (1713: 7 no. 5); Linnaeus (1746: [19] no. 58); Linnaeus (1748: [17]), G36, S6 (“ Pygargus ” in genus “ Falco ”); Klein (1750: 40 no. 2), “ Aquila Pygargus ”, based on Willughby, Ray and Catesby’s “Bald Eagle”; Linnaeus (1758: [89]), G41, S8.   
DISTRIBUTION. — Europe.  
 MODERN IDENTIFICATION. — * Haliaeetus albicilla (Linnaeus, 1758), according to the diagnosis and the mentioned sources, since Brisson here excludes the authors of the 16th century who mistook this species with * Circus cyaneus (however, Klein also mentions Catesby’s “Bald Eagle”, which is * Haliaeetus leucocephalus). More precisely, Brisson’s description corresponds to a female, since the “Aigle à queue blanche” is bigger than the “Petit Aigle à queue blanche” (see below).   
 6.3. Linnaeus (1766: 123-124): Species shifted into the genus “ Vultur ” (because of the presence of an almost naked area between the eyes and the nostrils): “ VULTUR ALBIULLA ” [sic] G41, S8, emended as “ VULTUR ALBICILLA ” in an erratum at the end of vol. 2 (Linnaeus 1767), order “ Accipitres ”.   
 REFERENCES. — Linnaeus (1761: [19] no. 55), “ Falco Albicilla ”; direct observation and ref. to Belon, Gessner, Willughby, Ray; Brünnich (1764: [3] no. 12), “ Falco Albicilla ”; Belon (1557: 15 ro.); Gessner (1585: 205); Willughby (1676: 31); Ray (1713: 7 no. 5); Brisson (1759a: 427).   
DISTRIBUTION. — Europe.  
 MODERN IDENTIFICATION. — * Haliaeetus albicilla (Linnaeus, 1758); see the comments on Linnaeus (1758).   
  6.4. Buffon in Buffon & Guéneau de Montbeillard (1771a: 99- 102), quarto edition; (1771b: 78-80), folio edition: “ PYGARGUE ” . Buffon distinguishes between three varieties in this species: the “Grand Pygargue” (in question here), the “Petit Pygargue” and the “Pygargue à tête blanche” (see below: 7.4 and 8.4).   
 REMARK. — Since this bird, according to Buffon, is not an eagle in the strictest sense, he uses the neologism “pygargue” by gallicization of the Greek word “ pygargos ” (“white rump”) which, however, may not have designated the same species in the works of ancient authors.   
OBSERVATION. — No direct observation of the “Grand Pygargue”.  
 REFERENCES (FOR THE “ GRAND PYGARGUE ” ONLY). — Aristotle (“ pygargos ”); Willughby (1676: 31); Linnaeus ([1746: 19 no. 58]); Brisson (1759a: 427); Salerne (1767: 7), “Grosse Bondrée blanche”.   
DISTRIBUTION / HABITAT (INCLUDING THE VARIETIES). — Plains, cold climates; “all provinces of Northern Europe”.  
 MODERN IDENTIFICATION. — * Haliaeetus albicilla (Linnaeus, 1758), female: see the comments on Linnaeus (1758) and Brisson. On Aristotle, see Arnott (2007: 296).   
  6.5. Gmelin (1788: 253): back into the genus “ Falco ”: “ FALCO ALBICILLA ”  G42, S39, order “ Accipitres ”.   
 REFERENCES. — Linnaeus (1766: 123), G41, S8; Linnaeus (1761: [19] no. 55); Brünnich (1764: [3] no. 12); Brisson (1759a: 427); Belon (1557: 15 ro.); Gessner (1585: 205); Ray (1713: 7 no. 5);  Buffon & Guéneau de Montbeillard (1771a: 99) and PE 411 ; Willughby (1678: 61), “Pygarg or white-tail’d Eagle”; Pennant (1776: 170 [no. 45], pl. 18), “Cinereous Eagle”; Latham (1781: 33 no. 5), “Cinereous Eagle”, refers to Linnaeus’s “ Vultur Albicilla ”, Brisson’s “Aigle à queue blanche”, Buffon’s “Grand Pygargue” and PE 411, Ray, Frisch’s pl. 70, Willughby, Pennant; Frisch (1733 -1763: 70); like Latham, Gmelin refers to PE 411 twice (see below, “ Falco leucocephalus ”).   
DISTRIBUTION. — Europe, not least Scotland and adjacent islands.  
 MODERN IDENTIFICATION. — * Haliaeetus albicilla (Linnaeus, 1758), female (Gmelin gives this species the same size as Brisson does); see the comments on Linnaeus (1758) and Brisson.
description: Published as part of Schmitt, Stéphane & Gouraud, Christophe, 2024, The significance of Buffon and Guéneau de Montbeillard's Histoire naturelle des oiseaux ([1765] - 1783) in the taxonomy of birds: General presentation and correspondence between Buffon's " eagles " and the species acknowledged by Linnaeus (1758, 1766), Brisson (1759 - 1762), and Gmelin (1788 - 1789), pp. 361-409 in Zoosystema 46 (16) on pages 388-389, DOI: 10.5252/zoosystema2024v46a16, http://zenodo.org/record/12667134