From John Brodie Innes 28 January 1870
Hybrid Cow.— There is at present a hybrid cow among a herd at the home farm of Beaufort—a cross apparently between a deer and a cow. Except in the colour, which is black, the animal is identical in appearance with the one lately sold by Mr Maclean, V.S., to the proprietor of Wombwell’s Menagerie.1 Strange to say, both animals were bred in or near the same parish—Ardclach2—and in many respects bear a similar history. Mr Lawson, manager at Beaufort,3 bought the cow last autumn among a herd of cattle, and it has since been seen and admired by many. The hybrid cow in Wombwell’s menagerie was calved at Lochindorb,4 and was exhibited by Mr M’Donald, Blervie,5 at the Forres Christmas Cattle Show in 1868.
Dear Darwin
The above is from the Elgin Courant of this day 28th. Janry. 1870.6 I have not seen the animal. It is satisfactory to know that the former one, which I told you of before, and which seemed if not a hybrid, a wonderfully good imitation of one has gone to a menagerie where perhaps in life or death the truth of its origin may be tested. Some old red deer seems to have taken to erratic courses about the ancient haunts of the Wolf of Badenoch7
Faithfully Yours | J Brodie Innes
Footnotes
Bibliography
Bostock, Edward Henry. 1927. Menageries, circuses and theatres. London: Chapman and Hall.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
ODNB: Oxford dictionary of national biography: from the earliest times to the year 2000. (Revised edition.) Edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. 60 vols. and index. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Summary
JBI sends clipping about a hybrid between a deer and a cow, from the same parish as the one reported in 1868.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-7087
- From
- John Brodie Innes
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- DAR 167: 27
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp encl
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7087,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7087.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 18