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To Nature   6 May [1876]1

Cherry Blossoms

In the last number of Nature (vol. xiv., p. 10), Mr. Pryor states that the flowers of the wild cherry are bitten off in large numbers in much the same manner as I formerly described in the case of the primrose.2 Some days ago I observed many cherry blossoms in this state, and to-day I saw some actually falling. I approached stealthily so as to discover what bird was at work, and behold it was a squirrel. There could be no doubt about it for the squirrel was low in the tree and actually had a blossom between its teeth. It is none the less true that birds likewise bite the flowers of the cherry tree.

Charles Darwin

Down, Beckenham, May 6

1
The year is established by the publication of this letter in Nature, 11 May 1876.
2
A letter on the destruction of flowers by birds, written by Alfred Reginald Pryor, was published in Nature, 4 May 1876, p. 10. CD had described the same phenomenon with respect to primrose flowers in Nature, 23 April 1874, p. 482, and 14 May 1874, pp. 24–5 (Correspondence vol. 22, letters to Nature, 18 April [1874] and 7 and 11 May [1874]).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10498,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10498