To J. J. Weir 27 March [1868]1
4 Chester Place | N.W.
March 27
(Excuse this paper)
My dear Sir
I hardly know which of your 3 last letters has interested me most.—2
What splendid work I shall have hereafter in selecting & arranging all your facts. Your last letter is most curious all about the bird-catchers & interested us all.— I suppose that the male chaffinch in “pegging” approaches the captive singing-bird, from rivalry or jealousy— if I am wrong please tell me; otherwise I will assume so.—3
Can you form any theory about all the many cases which you have given me & others which have been published, of when one of pair is killed, another soon appearing? Your fact about the bullfinches in your garden is most curious on this head.4 Are there everywhere many unpaired birds? What can the explanation be?—
Mr. Gould assures me that all the nightingales which first come over are males, & he believes this is so with other migratory birds.—5 But this does not agree with what the bird-catchers say about the common Linnet, which I suppose migrates within the limits of England.—
In your penultimate letter you tell me about gay caterpillars, & the facts seem to me highly satisfactory, but you speak as if they were few.— Would it not save you labour if I were to forward this letter to Wallace, & ask him for its return?6
Many thanks for very curious case of Pavo nigripennis— I am very glad to get additional evidence; I have sent your fact to be inserted, if not too late, in four foreign editions which are now printing7
I am delighted to hear that you approve of my Book— I thought every mortal man wd find the details very tedious & have often repented of giving so many.— You will find Pangenesis stiff reading & I fear will shake your head in disapproval: Wallace sticks up for the great god Pan like a man.—8
The fertility of hybrid-canaries wd. be a fine subject for careful investigation.9
Yours most truly obliged | C. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Variation 2d ed.: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1875.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Variation US ed.: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. New York: Orange Judd & Co. [1868.]
Summary
Thanks for information [about sex ratios] received from bird-catchers.
"Can you form any theory about all the many cases which you have given me and others which have been published, of when one pair is killed, another soon appearing?"
Facts about gay-coloured caterpillars very satisfactory.
Comments on Pangenesis.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6059
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- John Jenner Weir
- Sent from
- London, Chester Place, 4
- Source of text
- Linnean Society of London (Quentin Keynes Collection)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6059,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6059.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16