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To A. A. Gould   6 April [1858]1

Down Bromley Kent

April 6th.

My dear Sir

I write one line to return you my very sincere thanks for the kind manner in which you have so effectually & completely procured me an answer from the highest authority on the habit of your Cuckoo.2 If you have any communication with Dr Brewer, I hope that you will present him my best thanks. How Mr Yarrell could have erred so much I cannot conceive; & I am heartily glad I did not trust to his authority.3

I, also, regretted very sincerely that I had not the pleasure of seeing you when in England; but I was at that time quite incapable of any exertion, & this is indeed almost my chronic state.

I cannot help much regretting to hear that your time is so much taken up that you have but little leisure for natural History. An account of the Japan shells, would, I shd think, be very interesting under a geographical point of view, to which you have so much attended.4

With my sincere thanks for your constant kindness to me, pray believe me | My dear Sir | Yours very sincerely | C. Darwin

Footnotes

1
This letter and the letter from Thomas Mayo Brewer to Augustus Addison Gould, to which it refers, are dated on the assumption that CD asked for the information about cuckoos while he was composing chapter 10, on the ‘Mental powers and the instincts of animals’, which he completed on 9 March 1858 (‘Journal’; Appendix II). Brewer’s letter was marked ‘Ch. 10’ by CD (see letter from T. M. Brewer to A. A. Gould, [March 1858]) and put with his other notes on instincts. CD incorporated Brewer’s information into Origin, p. 217, when he came to write up this material in November 1858 (‘Journal’; Appendix II).
3
In Natural Selection, pp. 506–7, CD stated that Cuculus americanus ‘sometimes … lays its eggs in other birds nests’, citing Yarrell 1839–43, 2: 190, as his source. In Origin, p. 217, CD reported: ‘I hear on the high authority of Dr. Brewer, that this is a mistake.’ See letter from T. M. Brewer to A. A. Gould, [March 1858].
4
Gould described the Mollusca and shells collected during the United States Exploring Expedition and was the author of many other conchological papers.

Bibliography

Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.

Summary

Thanks AAG for procuring an authoritative answer from T. M. Brewer on the habits of the [American] cuckoo. Surprised William Yarrell erred so much.

Wishes AAG had time to give an account of Japanese shells, which would be interesting from the geographical point of view.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-2448
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Augustus Addison Gould
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Lehigh University Libraries Special Collections (Honeyman Collection)
Physical description
ALS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2448,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2448.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 7

letter

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