To W. B. Tegetmeier 5 August [1859]1
Down Bromley Kent
Augst 5th
My dear Sir
When shall I return the Spanish Cock for which I am so much indebted to your kindness?2 He seems to me grown into a magnificent bird. The reason I more especially ask is that my cook tells me he is beginning to fight with his elder sons,—sons of the game-hen & therefore I presume rather extra bellicose. Whenever quite convenient I could send him carriage-paid to anywhere in London & I could repay you for any extra expence.—
I have an astonishing lot of mongrels, mostly black, some white & but a very few mottled. One of the young cocks, however, has lately acquired a few reddish brown freckles; & all these mongrels seem very liable to change their plumage greatly as they grow older.— I rather expect that the offspring of my mongrels next year will make some approach to the plumage of Gallus bankiva.—3
I hope you are well, & that your Bees & all Hobbies prosper.— I have had a very bad summer for my health & this has greatly delayed my volume, which will not now be finished till quite the autumn. Whenever completed, a copy shall be sent you; not that I suppose it will interest you much.—
My dear Sir | Yours very sincerely | C. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Has an astonishing lot of mongrel poultry and expects next generation to approach Gallus bankiva in red-brown plumage.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2479
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Bernhard Tegetmeier
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2479,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2479.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 7