My dear Thwaites

Many thanks for your note of April 1^st— I see that the case of the monkeys is hopeless; & you must not take any more trouble about human expression.—² About a month after writing to you I heard that the keepers at Zoolog. G^s. could make the Elephants trumpet; & whenever they did so loudly invariably they contracted the orbicularis palpebrarum. Moreover the keepers positively affirmed that they had several times seen tears running down cheeks when in distress. So I am well answered; but if you sh^d. receive any details I sh^d of course like to hear them.—³

And now I have another favour to beg, & I really will not trouble you again. Layard describes a breed of fowls in Ceylon, which offers the unique case of the Hens alone, being coloured as if “a white fowl had been drawn down a sooty chimney”. the roof of mouth, wattles &c deep-leaden blue & periosteum black.— The males have not these peculiarities.—⁴ Now it is of very great interest to me to know the characters of the young hens & cocks, in their first plumage, after they have shed the down. Are the hens in the first plumage sooty & have they black roofs to mouth & dark wattles? & what colour are the cocks in their first plumage?— Unless they differ from all other fowls, the first plumage will differ from the adult plumage, & as the hen here differs, it is of the greatest interest to me to understand the law of change.— Perhaps the breed is normally sooty & the cock alone becomes pure white in its adult state. Or does the hen change & become sooty when adult.—

I beg you to help me, if you can, & to forgive me if you can.—

Yours very sincerely | C. Darwin