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Darwin Correspondence Project

From C. H. Brett   1 May 1871

6, Chichester Street, | Belfast.

1, May 1871

Sir,

In yr. “Descent of man” Vol. 1 p. 260 you say “Snipes do not breed here”. Excuse me observing that they certainly do breed in Ireland for I have frequently found their nests.1

Your obedt. servt. (& instructed disciple) | Chas. H. Brett

Chas. Darwin Esq: | M.D.

CD annotations

Top of letter: ‘I ought to say do not habitually breed here’ pencil

Footnotes

CD removed this sentence (which first appeared in the second printing of the first edition of Descent) in the second edition of Descent (see Decent 2d ed., p. 212). On the breeding habits of the common snipe (Gallinago gallinago), see Holloway comp. 1996, p. 184.

Bibliography

Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.

Summary

Corrects Descent: snipes do breed in Ireland.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-7732
From
Charles Henry Brett
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Belfast
Source of text
DAR 90: 74
Physical description
ALS 1p †

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7732,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7732.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 19

letter