Dear Sir,

I have forwarded the geese this morning addressed according to your instructions¹ & trust they may reach you in safety, though they have bred together I am not yet convinced that hybrids will breed inter se, for I doubt whether they be really anything more than mongrels, in other words whether the Chinese & Common goose be only Eastern & Western forms of the self same species, similar to the Eastern & Western types of Cattle & pigs; this is an idea of my own I have never seen even hinted at in books, & would probably be regarded by most naturalists, at present, as a wild fancy, but should it so happen to be the true explanation why these reputed hybrids will breed inter se, we seem to have a clue given to conflicting statements of authors about the China Goose & also of certain modifications in the common bird that have hitherto been regarded correlative variations:—²

When first hatched the beaks & legs of the birds I have sent you were black, but then parts were colored in two goslings of the same brood that had much white in their plumage. I purpose asking D^r. Meadows³ to cross the offspring of the birds I send with some similar 1^st. cousins he has reared, & myself intend keeping a pair of $\frac{3}{4}$ bred birds (i.e. $\frac{3}{4}$ Chinese & $\frac{3}{4}$ Common) which also are 1^st. cousins to one another, we can only manage one experiment each at a time   I hope I may get someone else to join in such like experiments for they appear highly desirable to be made, they may by their results give us some information concerning the identity of species or otherwise of the Chinese & Common Goose, all books I have seen treat them as distinct species but it may be an error for all that: I have had many $\frac{1}{2}$ bred birds between Common & Musk Duck⁴ & always found them most infertile.

Should you have any goslings not pied with white I should much like to know the color of their beaks & legs when first hatched; wishing you success | Believe me | yrs truly | F B Goodacre