Ɛpsilon

To E. W. V. Harcourt   13 December [1857]

Down Bromley Kent

Decr 13th

My dear Sir

I am very much obliged to you for your kindness in writing to me, & for your most obliging offer of the Pigeons, after you have succeeded in breeding some.1 I hope to go to the Poultry Show on purpose to see these Birds.2 I venture to trouble you with one question while the subject is fresh in your mind, viz, whether the Blue bird of the Boz Breed from Tunis, had (1) the double black Bar on wing; 2d whether its rump above tail was white or blueish— 3d whether there was double bar at end of tail (4th) whether the basal outer margin of outer tail feather was white, as with Rock Pigeon, though of course, it is a mere chance whether you attended to this point.3 The reason I ask is, because I have found Blue birds with the foregoing characters, in all the Breeds, & it is one of my arguments, that all have descended from the Rock.4 If the Boz breed is very different from other Breeds, it would be highly desirable to pair your spare Hen with some other distinct breed, to test whether hybrids from it would be fertile like all other hybrids from domestic Pigeons.—5 Would you be so kind as to take the trouble to answer this query about the Blue Pigeon.— There seems a considerable amount of variation in the Boz Breed.—

Permit me once again to thank you for the kind manner in which you answered my questions about the Madeira Birds, & your answers have been extremely useful to me.—6 With apologies for having troubled you at such length, I beg leave to remain | Yours faithfully & obliged | Charles Darwin

P.S. | Should you have the misfortune to have any of your three Birds die, & if you do not want the skin, would you send it me by enclosed address? & I would have it skinned or skeletonised.

Please to copy the following address for Parcel, Exactly, and do not add my Post Address, as Parcels often go wrong.

C. Darwin, Esq., | Care of Mr. Acton, | Bromley, | Kent. Per Railway & (Per Coach.)7

Endorsement: ‘1857’

1
Harcourt’s letter to CD has not been found.
2
From 1857, a twice-yearly poultry show, the largest in the London area, took place at the Crystal Palace, in Sydenham, Kent (Secord 1981, p. 171). The next show took place from 9 to 12 January 1858 (The Times, 11 January 1858, p. 5).
3
Harcourt had imported the first African owls (a variety of pigeon) from Tunis under the name ‘Booz’ pigeons; they were first exhibited at the January 1858 poultry show at the Crystal Palace. They were the smallest known variety of domestic pigeon, and reportedly were allowed to pair as they liked in their native land. (J. C. Lyell 1881, pp. 212–17.) This pigeon breed is characterised by a range of colours from white to blue, the colour of the wild rock pigeon (Columba livia). Rock pigeons have double black bars on their wings; these are notably absent in domestic breeds.
4
For CD’s argument that reversion to rock-pigeon plumage, amongst other things, suggested that all pigeon varieties had descended from the rock pigeon, see Origin, pp. 25–6, and Variation 1: 195–201. There is an illustration of an African owl in Variation 1: 149.
5
See Origin, p. 26, and Variation 1: 192–4.
6
See Correspondence vol. 6, letter from E. W. V. Harcourt, 31 May 1856. No other letters from Harcourt to CD have been found. CD credited Harcourt for information in Origin, p. 391, and Variation 1: 149. In a later letter to an ornithological journal, Harcourt wrote, ‘I collected Pigeons for Darwin when he was investigating the question of the development of difference in species at various ages, from which it appeared that the Booz Pigeon from Tunis was hatched with an abnormally small beak, contrary to his favourite theory’ (Ibis 3 (1891): 626).
7
The final two paragraphs of the letter are on a printed form, with handwritten corrections, that is stuck to the page. Samuel Poole Acton was the Bromley postmaster.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.5 had] after del ‘was’
1.5 (1)] interl
1.6 double] interl
1.7 basal] interl
1.7 tail] above del ‘caudal’
4.1 the following] after del ‘one of’
4.1 address] altered from ‘addresses’
4.1 Parcel] altered from ‘Parcels’
5.1 C. Darwin, Esq.] after del ‘C. Darwin, Esq., | Care of G. Snow, Nag’s Head, | Borough, London. (Per Carrier,) | N.B. Mr. Snow, leaves the Nag’s Head, every Thursday at One o’clock precisely; but Parcels may be sent there any day previously. | (OR)’
5.2 (Per Coach.)] before del ‘Mr. DARWIN’s Address for Letters. | C. Darwin, Esq., | Down, | Bromley. | Kent.’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2182F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2182F