Cornish Chough
This is an immature male Cornish Chough (pronounced ‘chuff’), which was shot at Eastern Green Beach in Penzance on September 10th 1919. The beaks of young choughs are yellow, turning red as they grow older; this specimen had one side painted red by the taxidermist for display purposes. If you move the model around, you can also see that it is missing an eye on the side that’s not normally seen by the public.
The Chough is a symbol of Cornwall. Its name in Cornish is Palores, which means ‘digger’ because choughs dig the ground for things to eat.
Penlee House has a number of taxidermy specimens dating from 19th and early 20th centuries.
This 3D model was created by Tom Goskar of the Curatorial Research Centre through a Developing Your Creative Practice grant from Arts Council England.
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