Letter 4970 — Darwin, C. R. to Sclater, P. L., 6 Jan [1866]

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

Jan 6

Dear Sclater

I know that you are one of the busiest of men, but I want to beg a little bit of information & I trust to your kindness for I do not know to whom else to apply. Mr Swinhoe writes to me of a domestic race of duck in China as perhaps descended from Anas pœcilorhyncha.^f2 Now do you consider this form as deserving to be called a distinct species from A. Boschas & may I quote your opinion??^f3

How does it differ? I suppose it has the curled tail feathers & wing-marks. Is it a native of China? I sh^d be very grateful for a few lines giving me information on these heads.^f4

Pray forgive me troubling you & believe me

yours very sincerely | Charles Darwin

P.S. After nine months inaction from illness, I have just begun to do a little work—^f5

Footnotes

f1

The year is established by the content of the postscript (see n. 5, below).

f2

CD probably refers to the missing portion of the letter from Robert Swinhoe, [before 1 October 1865?] (Correspondence vol. 13); the surviving portion includes a discussion of ducks, but not of Anas poecilorhyncha, the spot-billed duck of Asia. Robert Swinhoe, the British consul in Formosa (now Taiwan), had earlier informed CD of a supposed `thorough race’ of duck that had developed from hybrids of the muscovy duck (Carina moschata; then also A. moschata) and the Chinese domestic duck (see Correspondence vol. 10, letter from Robert Swinhoe, 12 November 1862).

f3

No reply from Sclater has been found; in his discussion of breeds of domestic ducks and their descent from the mallard, Anas boschas (now A. platyrhynchos), in Variation 1: 276–87, CD did not cite information from Sclater or Swinhoe.

f4

Anas poecilorhyncha is distributed throughout Asia. Its lack of curled tail-feathers distinguishes it from A. boschas, although both species have conspicuous wing patches (Birds of the world 1: 605, 607). CD mentioned A. boschas, but not A. poecilorhyncha, in Variation.

f5

CD recorded being ill from 22 April until December 1865 (see Correspondence vol. 13, Appendix II).