Glad to have JJW’s opinion on nest-building. Wallace’s view [that skill is learned] is opposed to many facts.
Asks JJW about birds and their behaviour.
Wants information on the first plumage of different breeds of canaries.
Plumage of canaries; changes in plumage with successive moults.
Sorry JJW cannot visit.
Will go to sea-side for five weeks at end of July.
Does Vidua have double annual moult? [See Descent 2: 181.]
Coloration of linnets.
Sexual behaviour of black hen bullfinch.
CD thanks JJW for letter about the crimson breast of linnets
and the fate of a pugnacious female bullfinch.
Refers to JJW’s pointing out the number of Jenners and Weirs who have been naturalists, and cites some writings by men of those families about striking cases of birds.
Invites JJW to visit Down. Will try to get A. R. Wallace and H. W. Bates also.
Both sexes of Crossoptilon auritum (eared pheasant) obtained the red cheeks the first year.
Coloration of the linnet.
Enjoyed JJW’s visit.
Interested in changes in plumage of pheasants.
Still at work on sexual selection in birds.
CD cannot remember whether correspondent believed the wing that Gallus bankiva opens and scrapes before the female, is ornamented. He fears it is not.
South Down sheep: variability in colouring and patterning of lambs compared with constancy of adult coat.
Comments on paper by JJW ["On insects and insectivorous birds", Trans. R. Entomol. Soc. Lond. (1869): 21–6]. JJW’s verification of A. R. Wallace’s suggestion regarding inheritance is quite a discovery.
Asks for information about male birds migrating before females.
Migratory male nightingales and blackcaps arrive before females [see Descent 1: 259].
Discusses chaffinch "Peggers".
Disagrees with CD’s opinion that canary mules are fertile.
Display of colour of greenfinches in courtship.
Thanks for information about bird migration.
Comments on canary hybridisation.
Loss of juvenile colouring in South Down sheep.
"My health got so bad I could do nothing at Down".
Gives information about migration of male and female birds.
Describes the unusual appearance of a horse whose mother had previously borne a foal by a quagga. The effect of one mating on the subsequent pregnancy of another mating is explained by JJW using Pangenesis.
CD thinks JJW’s account [in 7137] is significant for a theory of generation and should go to some scientific society; suggests additional data is needed. Quotes cases of subsequent progeny apparently affected by a previous impregnation. Perhaps not prudent to allude to "despised" Pangenesis, which CD fully believes will have its day.
Asks about birds erecting feathers when enraged or frightened. Interested in examples of expression in birds and animals.
Tells of the sheldrake dancing on tidal sands to make worms come out.
On behaviour of birds when frightened and when threatening.
Purple Cytisus grafted onto yellow stock produces some yellow flowers.
Mutations in rabbits.
Cites case of variegated leaf form of one plant apparently spreading to a neighbour.