My dear Sir

I received about a week ago your very kind note of Oct. 28^th & a few days subsequently the Treatise on Pigeons.² But I am really ashamed to see what trouble it must have cost you. Some of the facts it contains have interested me, more especially as it shows that some of the very interesting specimens which you formerly sent me are at least nearly a century old.³ What a curious production it is! It has much amused me & has vividly showed me the differences between an Oriental & European mind. Man, it seems, is not alone subjected to the most atrocious quackery.

Many thanks, also, for the Poultry paper. I had surely thought that I had acknowledged & thanked you for the Kaseen fowls &c:⁴ it was a great oversight on my part not to have done so. All my fowls are now in the hands of a very skilful man, M^r Tegetmeier, for description:⁵ subsequently they shall be deposited in Brit. Museum.⁶ In simple truth your kindness has been extreme.—

I am glad to hear from D^r. Hooker that you are going to join the Linn. Soc^y. ⁷ I have not been in London for some time, but if your election has not come on, I shall be proud to sign your certificate.

There is one small point, on which I am particularly interested & have taken great pains to collect information. I mention it for the chance of your seeing anything of the kind & as I know that you observe all natural objects. It refers to the stripes sometimes seen along the back, on the shoulders, & across the legs of certain horses; & on the legs of Donkeys. I want to collect all cases; especially what coloured horses have them: whether stripes more on front or hind legs; whether in Donkey the shoulder stripe is ever double. Especially Whether stripes of all kinds are plainer in foals or adults. &c &c., I have a mass of information from N.W. coast of India.—⁸

With my very sincere thanks for all your kindness & hopes for your health | pray believe me. My dear Sir, Yours very sincerely | C. Darwin