Buffon’s specimens in the Baillon ornithological collection (La Châtre, France) and their potential connection with Martinet’s Planches enluminées

Although the colossal work consisting of Martinet’s Planches enluminées (1765-1780) and Buffon & Guéneau de Montbeillard’s Histoire naturelle des Oiseaux (1771-1783) does not include any scientific names, their importance in avian nomenclature remains paramount. Several authors subsequently introduced the Linnaean binomens to the French names of the Planches enluminées, thereby making the specimen that served as the model a type. Specimens from the Buffon era, like all bird specimens from before 1800, are very rare in ornithological collections. Nine ‘Buffon’ specimens have been identified in the Baillon ornithological collection (La Châtre, France). Their possible status as a model for the Planches enluminées, and thus their possible status as type specimens, is examined. Two other specimens, from the Paris museum and possibly from the Buffon era, are also discussed. Three specimens have been identified as possible types of Pelecanus leucogaster Boddaert, 1783, Picus rubricollis Boddaert, 1783, and Picus flavigula Boddaert, 1783.