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Darwin Correspondence Project

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

See this volume, Supplement, letter to E. W. V. Harcourt, 13 December [1857] and nn. 2 and 3. Harcourt had exhibited a variety of pigeon known as ‘owls’ from Tunis at the poultry show held at the Crystal Palace in Sydenham, Kent, from 9 to 12 January 1858. Turbits are another variety of pigeon; in Variation 1: 148–50, CD had grouped them together with owls in the same race.
Frederick Caius Esquilant. The Philoperisteron was a society of pigeon fanciers (see Secord 1981).
Harcourt had exhibited the pigeons under the name ‘Booz’ pigeons; see this volume, Supplement, letter to E. W. V. Harcourt, 13 December [1857] and n. 3.
Columba livia is the rock pigeon (see Origin, pp. 25–6, and Variation 1: 134–6).

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

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