To W. B. Tegetmeier 8 May [1861]1
Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.
May 8th
My dear Sir
Your note is a mine of wealth to me:2 I feared that you had been ill, because you said you had been in a former note3 & I thought it might have recurred.
I did mean to count the little feather inch long, but Mr Gould4 tells me it ought not to be counted, so that for the future we neither will count it: & I understand that your Game Bantam had 10 not counting this minute feather.—5 I am sorry to say that I have not attended to Brain Development, so cannot aid you about Pigeon;6 it would be most laborious work.
Can you really believe Pigeons ever fly a league a minute?— I am very glad to have the speed for long distances: I shall see your paper in due time in N. Hist. Review & that will suffice, so will not trouble you to send M.S.7
Thanks for Hackles; since writing I have examined G. Sonnertii & was convinced that what Mr. Brent wrote was without any foundation.8 He is a very obliging kind man, but very crotchetty.— Thanks about identity of Polish Fowls.—9
Thanks about Malay tails (I have found same numbers in Shangais)—10 a pretty man to trust is Ferguson with his 12 caudal feathers!11 I have some other questions to ask & remarks on your answers but it will be more convenient for you, if I write to match my former questions.
With sincere thanks | Yours very truly | C. Darwin
I hope in a week to put my M.S. in Copyist Hand.—12 I have now examined 55 skulls.13 I find great variability; so that few of the breeds seem certainly characterised by any difference.— I shall beg to be permitted to have two or three of your skulls engraved.—14
Footnotes
Bibliography
Ferguson, George. 1854. Ferguson’s illustrated series of rare and prize poultry, including comprehensive essays upon all classes of domestic fowl. London: n.p.
Summary
Thanks WBT for information on pigeons and poultry.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4830
- 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. 4830,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4830.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 13 (Supplement)