Linnaeus (1766) briefly descriped the Yellow Bishop, based on the longer description in Brisson 1760. Mathurin Jacques Brisson, a French zoologist, gave the names "Le Pincon du Cap de Bonne Esperance" (French) and Fringilla Capitis Bonae Spei (Latin). Brisson's painting clearly shows the wing patch of the male.
Brisson noted that the Yellow Bishop originated from the Cape of Good Hope, from where specimens had been sent to RAF de Reaumur by Nicolas Louis de La Caille. de La Caille, a French astronomer, visited Table Bay (Cape Town) and went up the West Coast as far as Aurora to calculate the radius of the earth in the southern hemisphere. de La Caille arrived in Cape Town in 1751 (Forbes) and stayed for 2 years.
The first colour illustration of the Yellow Bishop is in the book by Edme-Louis Daubenton, containing coloured engravings by Francois-Nicolas Martinet.
The Yellow Bishop was well known in the Cape in the early days of settlement. The first published reference to the Yellow Bishop was by Johann Schreyer, a German soldier. He arrived in Cape Town in 1668 and stayed for several years to work as a surgeon. He wrote a book (Schreyer 1681) and described many birds and animals, and wrote of one bird: "Some birds are as large as sparrows, and as yellow as wax on their backs". Of all the birds in Cape Town, only the Yellow Bishop fits this description. This is one of the earliest published references to any weaver. Similarly, Schreyer wrote about the Southern Red Bishop.
Scientific citation
Loxia capensis Linnaeus 1766 Syst. Nat., ed. 12, 1, p.306 Cape of Good Hope.
Meaning of names
capensis After the Cape of Good Hope (Modern Latin: Caput Bonae Spei; Portuguese: Cabo de Boa Esperanca), South Africa.
Weaver Watch
