To E. W. V. Harcourt   24 June [1856]

Dear Sir

I am very much obliged for your note & will certainly take advantage of your offer & visit M^r. Leadbeater, but I am not likely to go to London for some weeks.—¹ I can take a Rock Pigeon for comparison; but for the swallows (& perhaps a few other Birds) I could only compare them by taking them to the British Museum. Will you entrust them to me? I will pledge myself to take them back the same or next day: in this case, I fear, I sh^d. have to trouble you to send me a line addressed to M^r Leadbeater, instructing him to give me the skins.—

I am particularly obliged for your kind offer of assistance in case you are compelled to go to Ægypt. On the most ancient monuments there is figured a greyhound-like Dog, but with longer pointed ears, & an extraordinary very short & very much curled tail: Nott & Gliddon in their curious Book assert that exactly the same variety now exists in N. Africa; & I am very curious to hear whether this is really so, for it would be a truly wonderful instance of permanence in a variety, & I sh^d. be very much obliged if you would make enquiries: I can hardly credit this statement of these not very accurate authors.—²

The subject, which I am chiefly intent on, in regard to variation, is the Domestic Pigeon.³ Skins are on their road to me sent by M^r. Murray from Persia,⁴ & I hope to get all the breeds from India & China. Any assistance of this nature would be invaluable; but I know it is much too troublesome to expect you yourself to skin birds for me, & I fear there is little chance of your being able to find anyone who could skin; but if this were possible, & you could hear of any breeds of Pigeon, believed to have been long kept in Ægypt, I would gratefully, with your permission, repay you for their purchase & skinning. The Birds sh^d. be adult   A Tumbler would be particularly valuable, & I hope to get Tumblers from all quarters of the world.— Any observations on any of the domestic animals, as Ducks, Poultry, Rabbits (the skeletons of which I am collecting with great pains),⁵ Dogs, or Cats, would be very interesting to me.—

I am sure you will see that I have taken your most kind offer in the most literal & freest manner. With my very sincere thanks | I beg leave to remain | Dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | Charles Darwin

My hand is so tired with writing that I fear this note will be even less legible than at the best of times.—