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From Louis Sulpice Bouton to Charles Tilstone Beke1    24 September [1856]2

Mon cher Mr Beke

Je vais faire des recherches à tête reposée dans le Museum & les Transactions pouvoir vous envoyer plus tard des renseignements plus précis—3

T à vs | L. Bouton 24 Sep

Extrait d’une lettre de M Autard de Bragard— Savane—4 17 Sept— 1856

En 1835—36—ou 37, j’ai envoyé à la Société d’histoire naturelle un Merle huppé de Bourbon5 “Turdus cafer” pris au Morne Brabant peu de temps après un coup de vent— aussi un autre oiseau tué à la Savane reconnu appartenir à une espèce de Madagascar—

Vous trouverez ces individus au Museum et ce qui les concerne inséré dans les transactions de la Société—

CD annotations

Top of first page: ‘Case of Madagascan Bird blown to Mauritius & one from Bourbon.—’ pencil; ‘19’6 brown crayon
1
For a translation of this letter, see Correspondence vol. 6, Appendix I.
2
The year is given by the extract included in the letter.
3
See letter from Victor de Robillard, 20 September 1856, in which it is mentioned that Charles Tilstone Beke had communicated a request from CD to the Société d’Histoire Naturelle of Mauritius. Bouton was secretary of the society until his death in 1878.
4
Savanne is a district of south-west Mauritius.
5
Bourbon was the former name of Réunion Island, 130 miles south-west of Mauritius. The bird was possibly the now extinct Réunion huppe (see letter from Victor de Robillard, 26 February 1857).
6
The number of CD’s portfolio of notes on the geographical distribution of animals.

From Louis Sulpice Bouton to Charles Tilstone Beke1    24 September [1856]2

My dear Mr Beke

I shall do some research at leisure in the Museum & and in the Transactions on the subject referred to in order to be able to send you later more precise details—3

Ever yours | L. Bouton

24 Sep

Extract from a letter of M Autard de Bragard— Savanne—4 17 Sept— 1856

In 1835—36—or 37, I sent to the Natural History Society a crested thrush from Bourbon5   “Turdus cafer” taken at Morne Brabant a short time after a hurricane— Also another bird killed in the Savanne known to belong to a Madagascan species—

You will find these specimens in the Museum and details concerning them in the transactions of the Society—

1
For the transcription of this letter in its original French and for CD’s annotations, see p. 232.
2
The year is given by the extract included in the letter.
3
See letter from Victor de Robillard, 20 September 1856, in which it is mentioned that Charles Tilstone Beke had communicated a request from CD to the Société d’Histoire Naturelle of Mauritius. Bouton was secretary of the society until his death in 1878.
4
Savanne is a district of south-west Mauritius.
5
Bourbon was the former name of Réunion Island, 130 miles south-west of Mauritius. The bird was possibly the now extinct Réunion huppe (see letter from Victor de Robillard, 26 February 1857).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1961,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1961