From J. J. Weir 20 April 1868
6 Haddo Villas | Blackheath SE
20th April 1868
My Dear Sir
My Brother has sent off several circular letters on your account & proposes to write in a few days to you.—1
In reply to your last, I cannot say that a case of a bird singing itself to death has ever fallen under my notice, but it is very common for a bird in full song to die suddenly without ruffling a feather, this has often occurred in my aviary.—2
My son is now at Dresden in order to learn German perfectly, and thus be better able to keep up his knowledge to an European standard.—
I cannot therefore examine his knee, but can assure you that the resemblance between his scar & mine is perfect.—3
It was long ago that the injury occurred to me but my impression is that, as usual with my flesh, the wound although deep very quickly healed.—
I certainly have all my life derided the idea of “Mothers marks”,4 still if the conclusion in my own mind was not foregone, the facts would have convinced me there must be “something in them”.—
I do differ from Wallace on the point of young birds learning to build from having themselves been reared in nests, but consider with him that the materials used are those most abundant in the haunts of the birds or are most easily obtainable.—5
The reed warbler is tolerably common in some localities near Lewes,6 this bird generally makes its nest from the panicles of the reeds, but on one occasion a large number of sheep were folded close to the reed swamp, & the birds constructed nests almost entirely of wool.—
I have seen Black birds7 in my own garden use large pieces of white paper in their nests.—
I was much struck with your remarks about the Ducks with the white crescentic mark on the breast,8 you are probably unaware that in Sussex Ducks so marked are very common, I have stood by a ponds side & been amazed to observe every duck in some instances so marked, you will observe in several wild species there is a tendency to two colors on the breast, perhaps the uniformity of coloring adverted to may arise from atavism, my Brother who had some so marked thought it was an extension of the white ring of the Mallard. The marks I have observed were lower down than the Mallards ring, occupying the position of the red mark of the Sheldrake.9
Yours very sincerely | J Jenner Weir
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Instinct in birds; nest-building.
Inheritance of acquired characters.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6130
- From
- John Jenner Weir
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Blackheath
- Source of text
- DAR 181: 76
- Physical description
- ALS 8pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6130,” accessed on 19 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6130.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16