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Darwin Correspondence Project

To W. B. Tegetmeier   4 December [1856]1

Down Bromley Kent

Dec. 4th

My dear Sir

I have no details about the Madras Fowls; except that the Pariah one is the common Form; & that the history of the Rangoon one was stated to be unknown.—2

Do not trouble yourself to write me descriptions of Fowls, as I shall see them in time in Poultry Book.—3

Since writing I have heard from the Rajah, Sir J. Brook that he has sent me some Fowls from the interior of Borneo,4 & I think I mentioned that some from Natal are on the road, so I will wait till I get some more before sending the Persians; ie without I hear that from any cause you wd. like them sooner. The expence of sending them to London is nothing.—

I am very sorry to hear that you have been a sufferer & from so painful as Rheumatism.—

I am extremely glad that you are willing to describe all the Poultry, which I can get, in the Poultry Book, as I am sure it will be well done; & my only object is to know what amount of difference there is in the Fowls of different parts of world—

In Haste. | Yours very sincerely | C. Darwin

Footnotes

Dated by the relationship to the letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 29 November [1856].
A reference to Tegetmeier’s work describing the various breeds of poultry, issued in parts during 1856 and 1857 but never completed (Tegetmeier ed. 1856–7).
The letter from James Brooke, raja of Saráwak, has not been found. CD had included him in his list of people to ask for specimens of foreign poultry and domestic animals in 1855 (see Correspondence vol. 5, CD memorandum, [December 1855]).

Bibliography

Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.

Summary

Is glad WBT is willing to describe the poultry CD can acquire. Sir James Brooke promises Borneo fowls.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-2011
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 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2011,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2011.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 6

letter