To J. D. Hooker   [19 October 1856]1

Down Bromley Kent

Sunday

My dear Hooker

The seeds are come all safe, many thanks for them.

I was very sorry to run away so soon & miss any part of my most pleasant evening; & I ran away like a goth & vandal without wishing Mrs. Hooker good bye; but I was only just in time, as I got on the platform the train had arrived.

I was particularly glad of our discussion after dinner; fighting a battle with you always clears my mind wonderfully. I groan to hear that A. Gray agrees with you about the condition of Botanical Geography. All I know is that if you had had to search for light in zoological geography you would by contrast respect your own subject a vast deal more than you now do.— The Hawks have behaved like gentlemen & have cast up pellets with lots of seeds of them;2 & I have just had a parcel of partridges feet well caked with mud!!!3

Adios | Your insane & perverse friend | C. Darwin

1
The Sunday after CD’s trip to London, 15–18 October (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 October [1856]).
2
The experiment, which was carried out in the gardens of the Zoological Society, was recorded in CD’s Experimental book, p. 15 (DAR 157a) on19 October 1856: Killed some sparrow *on 14th [interl], one with wheat inside, put in Oats, Canary seed, Tares, Cabbage & Clover—gave *3 Birds [above del ‘it’] to small S. African Eagle. (Bateleur): bolted them; threw up pellet in 18 hours, *ie on morning of 16th [interl] charged with seed: planted these seeds on 19th.—

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.7 own] added

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1977,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1977