From Laurence Edmondston [before 3 May 1856]1
still they may not be decisive for as you may know, the vaunted conjugal fidelity of the ark bird has like most general rules had its exceptions2
I have no idea that the wild pigeons feed far from their breeding places, but believe that they remain— each tribe in the vicinity of their coves, & as to crossing to the Mainland of Scotland that is a feat of migration I should never give them credit for— 3
They have always been very numerous on these islands, & always present the usual uniform colour of the Rock Dove—
I am delighted to hear you are occupied in the effort to throw light on the interesting & difficult subject of Varieties of Species, & I beg you will freely command me when you suppose I may be of use in your researches—
Your query as to drifted Trees I can answer in the affirmative—but instances of them are less frequent now than formerly—& for this obvious enough reasons present themselves—
Mr McGillivray4 was one of my earliest & most respected scientific friends, &
CD annotations
Footnotes
Summary
The vaunted fidelity of the ark bird has its exceptions.
Gives some details on wild pigeons.
Answers in the affirmative CD’s query about drifted trees.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1865
- From
- Laurence Edmondston
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- DAR 205.2: 229
- Physical description
- inc †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1865,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1865.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 6