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From W. S. C.1 to George Busk   5 April 1873

The passage in ⁠⟨⁠Da⁠⟩⁠rwin to which I referred yesterday Descent of Man vol i p. 270.2

Any thing like it has never been observed by Mr. Broderick3 during 30 years that he has bred London Fancy Canaries. Also the statement Animals & Plants under domestication vol ii p 21 “In a few rare — — or is even brown” p 22 is not the case with his blood. Jonquils & Mealies being quite accidental.4 A prize Jonquil & Mealy often being out of the same hatching.

W. S. C.

I have written to Mr B to ask for a pair of canaries but there is no chance of his having any to spare till the Autumn.

April 5th 1873—

CD annotations

1.1 The passage … Canaries. 2.2] crossed ink
2.1 like it] before interl added ink ‘About male canaries feeding ♀ | will do so to any Brood’

Footnotes

1
W. S. C. has not been identified.
2
CD had observed that canaries were monogamous in the wild and that even domesticated males who had been mated to several females treated only the first female as ‘the wife’ (Descent 1: 270).
3
William Brodrick was a well-known breeder of London fancy canaries (R. L. Wallace [1889], p. 250).
4
In Variation 2: 21–2, CD reported that canary breeders he had consulted would not pair two jonquil birds as the progeny would be too dark, even brown. ‘Jonquil’ and ‘mealy’ are colour varieties of domestic canaries.

Bibliography

Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.

Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.

Wallace, Robert L. [1889.] The canary book. 2d edition. London: L. Upcott Gill.

Summary

Contradicts passages in Descent and Variation.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-8842
From
Unidentified
To
George Busk
Sent from
London
Postmark
AP 5 73
Source of text
DAR 160: 386
Physical description
ApcS † (by CD)

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8842,” accessed on 28 May 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8842.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21

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