To E. W. V. Harcourt 13 January [1858]
Down Bromley Kent
Jan. 13th
My dear Sir
I went yesterday & saw your birds, which I am glad to see got a prize. They are, as you no doubt know Owls, a breed barely distinguished from Turbits (Turbits having the feathers reversed on back of the head, as I believe is the case with your Algiers Hen).1 They seemed to me to be extraordinarily good birds in beak & head, having considerably smaller a beak than in any the best owl I have seen. But a far higher authority than I am, Mr Esquilant, ex-Secretary to the Philo-peristeron Socy2 (you may imagine from grandeur of title how great an authority he is) declared to me that they were “inimitable”—that they were “the treasures of the whole exhibition”,— that he would exchange his own best birds of any breed, even the sacred short-faced Tumblers, for a pair of the young of yours &c &.c.— Mr Esquilant remarked to me, that though so very good yet he thought from general resemblance to British Birds that they must have been introduced from Europe into N. Africa.— Did you make any enquiry on this head? Is Boz a Tunisian name?3 Do you know whether many of this breed are kept? Are they allowed to fly & field for themselves? Are they valued much? & is much care taken in selecting & breeding them? If not too troublesome, I shd. be very glad for a little more information on these birds. And shd. you have the accident to lose one, I shd. be very glad of its body to make measurements & skeletonise it. You were so kind as to offer me a pair of the young; but they had better be bestowed on some Fancier, as I think I shall give up my pigeons at the end of the summer, as I care for them only in relation to my subject of Variation; & I think I have got nearly all the good out of Pigeons, which I can get.—
I have been extremely glad to see your Birds, which certainly are marvels of their kind, though of less interest to me, than unimproved Birds, for certainly, strange as you may think it, I must think these Owls are descendants of the C. livia.—4
With my cordial thanks for all your kindness, I beg leave to remain | 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.
Secord, James Andrew. 1981. Nature’s fancy: Charles Darwin and the breeding of pigeons. Isis 72: 162–86.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Went to the show and saw EWVH’s birds.
Thinks he will give up his pigeons at the end of the summer.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2201F
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Edward William Vernon Harcourt
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Bodleian Libraries, Oxford (MS. Harcourt dep. adds. 346, fols. 265–8)
- Physical description
- ALS 7pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2201F,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2201F.xml