From George Hodgskin   6 January 1877

Dear Sir,

Admiral Mellersh has forwarded your letter to him of the 3^rd inst, and he appears to have committed a blunder in communicating to you about the Birds’ Nest I brought from MVideo last year.¹ The nest was delivered to me as a present to you from Señor Rodó, a lawyer of that city;² and I requested Mellersh more than once to furnish me with your address; and it was only in consequence of one of his recent letters mentioning your recent visit in his neighbourhood, that I renewed the request. M^r Rodó told me the bird that built the nest was called (in the Uruguay) el Boyéro and he described it black or almost black, about the size of our blackbird, and constructs its nest in the woods of Rio Negro— I must often have seen the bird perched on the back of cattle or horses—probably to pluck the hairs to make its nest.³ And as no doubt the Uruguay Republic was occupied by these birds prior to the introduction of those animals, what material could they have employed anciently?

Apologizing for the length of this, I have only to add that I shall this afternoon convey the nest, packed in a cigar-box, to the S.E. Rlway Station directed as you advised⁴ | I remain | dear Sir | Yours faithfully | G. Hodgskin

Cha^s Darwin Esq