From W. B. Tegetmeier [after 4 August 1866]1
⟨two lines excised⟩
My dear Sir.
I am glad that you like the cuts generally,—with respect to the alterations; the fantail I am certain can be altered so as to remove the effect to which you object2
There will be no difficulty in reducing the blocks of the cocks heads. The Hamburgh was a genuine portrait of a bird that I obtained for Mr Wells to draw, but I will have the extreme regularity a little broken, if possible.3
The name of ⟨two lines excised⟩4
The bantam feathers that you returned were from a golden sebright or laced hen and consequently would have the saffron colour— You allude to the original account of Mr Hewitt respecting this hen, but I do not at the present recollect having seen it, can you tell me if you saw it in print—5
If the skulls of the polish in the last number of the poultry book would be of any use to your new volume I could easily supply you with electrotypes to print from6
Many thanks for your kindness in correcting the references, irrespective altogether of its being of great benefit to me personally, I think it is desirable, as references to a volume that cannot be seen, are not of any great value7
I enclose the feathers of the cross bred wild Gallus— I took them myself from the living bird in the Zoological Gardens some years since—. The neck (hackle) feathers are very curious—8
I have no doubt of being able to send you the amended proofs of the blocks in a few days at the farthest.— I have been staying in your drysoiled and sunny county for a few days and am better in consequence
I have just looked for the Gallus varius? cross bred feathers and find also some of a half bred Sonnerat—which I enclose, thinking possibly you may like to see them; they also were taken by myself from the living bird, but I have no doubt you saw Dr Salters paper respecting them in the Natural History Review.—9
I am afraid I weary you with my hobby, and will conclude | Yours very truly | W B Tegetmeier
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Hewitt, Edward. 1864. Hen pheasant assuming the plumage of the male bird. Journal of Horticulture and Cottage Gardener n.s. 6 (1864): 37–8.
Salter, Samuel James Augustus. 1863. Note on the fertility, inter se, of hybrids of different species of the genus Gallus. Natural History Review n.s. 3: 276–9.
Tegetmeier, William Bernhard. 1856. On the remarkable peculiarities existing in the skulls of the feather-crested variety of the domestic fowl, now known as the Polish. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 24: 366–8.
Tegetmeier, William Bernhard. 1867. The poultry book: comprising the breeding and management of profitable and ornamental poultry, their qualities and characteristics; to which is added ‘The standard of excellence in exhibition birds’, authorized by the Poultry Club. London and New York: George Routledge & Sons.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Alterations to the woodcuts of poultry for Variation.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-5180
- From
- William Bernhard Tegetmeier
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- DAR 178: 74
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp inc †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5180,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5180.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 14