Falco albus J. F. Gmelin, 1788

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), Zoosystema 46 (16), pp. 361-409 : 384

1. Buffon’s “Aigle blanc” (variety)

1.1. Linnaeus (1758): not considered.

1.2. Brisson (1759a: 424-425, 1763a: 122): “ AIGLE BLANC ”, “ AQUILA ALBA ”, species 3 of genus IX (“Aigle”, “ Aquila ”), order III, section 1.

OBSERVATION. — No direct observation. Description mainly borrowed from Gessner.

REFERENCES. — Belon (1555: 89), “Aigle toute blanche, qu’on nommoit Cycnia ”, based on Pausanias; Gessner (1585: 199), “ Aquila alba sive cygnea ”, based on the Ancients and Albertus Magnus; Aldrovandi (1599: 231), idem; Jonston (1657: 6), idem; Nieremberg (1635: 234), “ Aquila alba ”, based on Marco Polo; Charleton (1668: 63 no. 9, 1677: 71 no. 9), “ Aquila alba , seu Cygnea ”, based on Gessner, Aldrovandi, or Albertus Magnus; Rzączyński (1721: 299), “ Aquila alba ”, and Rzączyński (1745: 362), “ Aquila alba seu Aquila Cygnea Aldrovandi ”, based on Albertus Magnus, and other sources relating to Poland and Ukraine (Andreas Cnöffel and Joachim von Hirtenberg); Klein (1750: 42 no. 7), “ Aquila Alba, Cygnea. The white Eagle”, based on Charleton and Rzączyński.

DISTRIBUTION /HABITAT. — Alps, “rocks on the banks of the Rhine River” (based on Gessner referring to Albertus Magnus).

MODERN IDENTIFICATION. — Latham (1821: 56) and Sharpe (1874: 235) considered Brisson’s “Aigle blanc” a white form of the “ Falco chrysaetos ” of Linnaeus (1758), namely, * Aquila chrysaetos ( Linnaeus, 1758) , which is probably not completely true. Indeed, while the “swan-eagle” of the Ancients was certainly mythical (Glardon in Belon 1997: 407), the “white eagle” observed by Albertus Magnus (De animalibus 23, 14), as well as those mentioned by Marco Polo and Rzączyński, may have been albinic or leucistic forms of * Aquila chrysaetos or of other birds of prey (however, the sources relating to Poland are doubtful, since the white eagle is an emblem of this country). Brisson gives a seemingly decisive character (the bird being almost equal to the golden eagle in size), but this piece of information is, in fact, borrowed from Albertus Magnus, who wrote that the “white eagle” was almost as large as the “ herodius ” (an unidentified bird of prey). See also Hume (2017: 412).

1.3. Linnaeus (1766): not considered.

1.4. Buffon in Buffon & Guéneau de Montbeillard (1771a: 73), quarto edition; (1771b: 58), folio edition: according to Buffon, the “aigle blanc” (“white eagle”) is not “a species on its own, nor even a constant race belonging to a definite species”, but an “accidental variety” of an unspecified eagle, resulting from old age or the cold climate.

OBSERVATION. — No direct observation.

REFERENCES. — None.

MODERN IDENTIFICATION. — See Brisson, above.

1.5. Gmelin (1788: 257-258): “ FALCO ALBUS ” G42, S47, order “ Accipitres ”. Gmelin wonders whether it is a mere variety of his “ Falco Chrysaëtos ” (see below).

REFERENCES. — Brisson (1763a: “123” = 122); Klein (1750: 42 no. 7); Charleton (1668: 63 no. 9); Latham (1781: 36 no. 12), “White Eagle”, based on Brisson, Klein, Charleton; Latham writes: “M. Buffon is of opinion that all White Eagles are varieties only, and in course this should not have place as a distinct species; but as [Brisson] has thought fit to make it so, I here retain it on his authority”.

DISTRIBUTION / HABITAT.— Alps, “rocks on the banks of the Rhine”.

MODERN IDENTIFICATION. — See Brisson. Latham (1821: 56) and Sharpe (1874: 236) identified the “ Falco albus ” of Gmelin (1788) with the “ Falco chrysaetos ” of Linnaeus (1758), but Gmelin’s description and references do not allow for any identification of the bird in question with a single species.

MODERN NOMENCLATURE. — Falco albus J. F. Gmelin, 1788 , is a nomen dubium.