To W. B. Tegetmeier 14 April [1858]1
Down Bromley Kent
Ap. 14th
My dear Sir
I am extremely sorry to hear of the cause of your silence: I had attributed it to being much engaged, for I had heard that you had been lecturing. Unfortunately you do not say, whether you would like to see the skins of the Burmese fowls; which if you like shd. be sent anywhere carriage free to be called for you.2 Perhaps you have given up all intention of noticing foreign breeds, but I hope that this may not be the case.— I found the account of the hybrid fowl-pheasants in your Poultry Book extremely valuable to me: but I have not yet read the whole work as I shall, when I come again to treat of domestic varieties.3
I did not know that you had attended to Bees:4 I am not in that line, but will show your paper to two friends that live near here.5
In about six weeks’ time I shall go over all my Pigeon M.S. & shall then dispose of all my Birds.6 If you thought any were worth your acceptance & cd. spare a day, (I cd. send to meet you at & take you back to Beckenham Stn. only 6 or 7 miles from London Bridge) & bring Baskets, you might take any which you thought worth the carriage:
This being the case, you will see that I need not accept your kind offer of Owls— if, however, you could give me a young Owl, within 24 hours of coming out of shell, it wd. be a treasure to me.—7
With my sympathy, & thanks for all your kindness, pray believe me | My dear Sir | Yours very sincerely | C. Darwin
Do not answer about the Fowls, without you would like to see them.—
Next Tuesday I leave home for a fortnight—
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Richardson, Edmund William. 1916. A veteran naturalist; being the life and work of W. B. Tegetmeier. London: Witherby & Co.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
CD will go over his pigeon MS and then dispose of all his birds. Has Burmese fowls’ skins if WBT is interested.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-2255
- 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 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2255,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-2255.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 7