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To [Frederick Wollaston Hutton]1   8 December [1864]

Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.

Dec. 8th

Dear Sir

It would have given me sincere pleasure to have communicated to you any information on the Albatross, but I am sorry to say that I have no notes on the periods when they were abundant off Cape Horn.—2

With my regret. Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

Footnotes

1
Hutton is identified as the recipient from the fact that the Canterbury Museum records that the letter was donated by him, from the endorsement, which appears to be in Hutton’s hand, and from the subject matter (see n. 2, below).
2
No letter requesting this information from CD has been found. Hutton probably wrote to CD in connection with the paper Hutton was preparing on the birds of the South Pacific, which contains descriptions of several species of albatross (see Hutton 1865, pp. 278–84). CD’s publications contain only one reference to Diomedeidae, or birds of the albatross family (see Volcanic islands, p. 90). His ornithological notes, made on board the HMS Beagle between 1832 and 1836, also contain only one reference to the albatross (see Ornithological notes, p. 247).

Bibliography

Hutton, Frederick Wollaston. 1865. Notes on some of the birds inhabiting the southern ocean. [Read 3 March 1865.] Ibis n.s. 1: 276–98.

Ornithological notes: Darwin’s ornithological notes. Edited by Nora Barlow. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Historical Series 2 (1959–63): 203–78.

Volcanic islands: Geological observations on the volcanic islands, visited during the voyage of HMS Beagle, together with some brief notices on the geology of Australia and the Cape of Good Hope. Being the second part of the geology of the voyage of the Beagle, under the command of Capt. FitzRoy RN, during the years 1832 to 1836. By Charles Darwin. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1844.

Summary

Regrets he has no notes on periods when albatrosses were abundant off Cape Horn.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-4710
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Frederick Wollaston Hutton
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, New Zealand
Physical description
ALS 1p

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4710,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4710.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 12

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