To W. B. Tegetmeier   29 September [1857]1

Down Bromley Kent

Sept. 29th

My dear Sir

Thank you for so kindly always remembering me. I have skeleton of Himalaya;2 but if you will leave the Head till thoroughily wasted I shd. be glad of it as duplicate.—3 With respect to Pigeons I shall collect no more, for I think for my object I have done enough. Though I am telling a partial story, for I have just written about some Smiters advertised by a Mr Roe at Salisbury.—4 I have just lost one of the old Barbs the parent of that sent you, so I shall have no more; but I have a grown male, which I can send to you, & will look in course of week or two, whether I have anything else worth sending.

You can make away with the young Cock Scanderoon. Thanks you for your offer of the Cock Rumpless, but I shall not want it. There is only one sort of Fowl, which I shd. be glad to get or buy cheap, viz an old Cock Malay, & if you could help me in this I shd. be very glad.— Pray take care of the Head of the wild Jungle, as at some time I shd. like that Back.—

I have heard of arrival of a set of Burmese Fowl-skins, but they are at Berlin, so I suppose I shall not receive them very soon.—5

With many thanks— | Your’s very sincerely | C. Darwin

1
The year is established by a record of a payment in CD’s Account book (Down House MS), dated 12 September 1857, for ‘Smiters’ (see n. 4, below) and by the relationship to the letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 21 November [1857].
2
See letter to John Thompson?, 26 November [1856].
3
CD had previously asked Tegetmeier to send him rabbit specimens (letter to W. B. Tegetmeier, 21 September [1856]). CD refers to the Himalayan breed of rabbits (see Variation 1: 108–9).
4
Smiters are a breed of pigeons remarkable for their manner of flight (Variation 1: 156). See also letter to James Buckman, 4 October [1857].

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 Head] after del ‘Body’
1.4 have done] ‘v’ over illeg
1.7 a] interl
2.1 young] above del ‘old’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2146,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2146