My dear Sir

Many thanks for your kindness about the skulls & for answering me about Ferguson.—² The account of the Hybrids is in his Poultry book & very obscurely written. I am always loth to believe that a man lies, yet I can hardly believe that he made so many crosses. No doubt hybrids which are generally sterile will sometimes breed, yet his account is very incredible. I began to suspect the whole Book to be a pure fiction, but having to write to M^r Brent about Rabbits, I asked him;³ & he says he knows nothing of him, except that he offered a lot of coops & aviaries for sale, which shows at least that probably he did keep Birds.

I shall be curious to hear about tails of Malay Hens; & if 10 be true number, it would be well to look at Cock.— Will you ask another question for me, as I daresay you will see at Preston Rabbit fanciers;⁴ viz whether E. S. Delamere (ie Dixon)⁵ is correct in saying that in Half-lops, the ear which hangs down is longer & broader than that which sticks up?⁶

I find my rabbit skeletons, which I am now at work at so tough a job, that I shall not begin Fowls quite so soon as I expected.

I may mention a trifling little fact which has surprised me: I threw away somewhere about the premises 2 or 3 years ago some wax coloured with vermilion, & I find that a swarm which built its combs last summer must have somehow discovered a lump, for the combs are extensively & prettily coloured with vermilion.—⁷

With sincere thanks | Yours truly | C. Darwin