To W. B. Tegetmeier 28 [September 1856]1
Down Bromley Kent
28th.—
My dear Sir
Very many thanks for the Catalogue just received. If the Black Hen Carrier shd. be a good Bird (& if you do not know yourself, perhaps someone there can inform you), & I mean for my purpose with long beak & narrow flat head, I shd. be glad of one, for I might pick up a cock afterwards. The Roman Runt is, I presume the same as Runts of Anerly, of which breed I have pair from Mr Baily.2 By the way I doubt whether Mr Baker’s3 Scanderoons differ much from Runts, they have rather longer necks, & hardly any other difference. They have not the red seam down the breast.—
The Rabbits being in Hutches will go dear; but if any old one went cheap & appeared good, I shd. be very glad of it alive or strangled, as I have become almost more interested in Rabbits than anything else. In poultry I am getting less interested, though I am going on, & this very morning have sent four good Hens to be skeletonised.—4
For live Birds, I find the following the quickest address. diag C. Darwin
George Inn
Farnborough
[SYMBOL] Kent 5 (To be forwarded)ramme
You know so well what I want & are so very kind that I will leave to your judgment. Carriers are the only distinct Pigeons, which I have not had dead or alive.
Your’s very truly obliged | C. Darwin
What a splendid development of skull your young Polands have.6
Footnotes
Bibliography
Post Office London directory: Post-Office annual directory. … A list of the principal merchants, traders of eminence, &c. in the cities of London and Westminster, the borough of Southwark, and parts adjacent … general and special information relating to the Post Office. Post Office London directory. London: His Majesty’s Postmaster-General [and others]. 1802–1967.
Summary
Specifies pigeons in which he is interested. Has become almost more interested in rabbits than anything else.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2068
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- William Bernhard Tegetmeier
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2068,” accessed on 6 October 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2068.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 6