From J. J. Weir [before 30 May 1868]1
I am not quite certain whether in my letters to you any mention has been made of wild animals suddenly reacquiring their wildness after having been perfectly tamed.—2
A friend of mine had a Hare which he had reared from a tiny leverett but a few days old this animal was as perfectly tame as a dog or cat and would gambol with him & his daughter like a kitten, it was however always kept indoors, it ran about the house & usually had its form in my friends bedroom under the grate.—
One day when I was present the drawing room door was left open it darted out into the garden & at once made across the country like a wild hare & was no more seen.—
I had a blue bird so tame that it would come immediately it saw me & settle on my hand, and it has flown back to me even when liberated in the garden, one morning this bird watched when I opened the aviary door and at once flew straight away & never returned.— The species was Spiza Cyanea.—3
A Siskin quite as tame as the Spiza, served me exactly in the same manner.—
On the other hand I have liberated Crossbills Java Sparrows, Redpoles, & Goldfinches & easily capture⟨d⟩ them again.—
Cirl Buntings and Reed Buntings liberated would not leave the place but remained about the Garden coming regularly to be fed, but at last fell I fear a prey to the cats.—
Believe me | My Dear Sir | Yours very truly | J Jenner Weir
C Darwin Esqe.
Footnotes
Summary
Reversion of tamed animals to wild behaviour.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-5748
- From
- John Jenner Weir
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- unstated
- Source of text
- DAR 181: 73
- Physical description
- ALS 6pp inc
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5748,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5748.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16