To W. D. Fox   14 January [1858]1

Down Bromley Kent

Jan. 14th

My dear Fox

Have you Hewitsons work on Eggs, in which you gave some observations on variations of Birds’ nests?2 If you have could you dare send it per post well done up & allow me to pay postage; for I do not know how else I cd get to see it.—

Have you ever heard that the first year that Birds build, they are not quite so adroit— LeRoy states this to be so, but I can hardly believe him.3

Can you give me any thoroughily well authenticated facts on ever so little variations in nests; I do not mean such cases as the Water owzel habitually having a doomed or open nest—or difference of Sparrow’s nest in tree & in hole; but rather any slight difference in degree of perfection of nest of same species in different districts or of any individuals of same species.—4

The smallest charity in this line would be gratefully accepted.—

Ever yours | In Haste | C. Darwin

1
The letter has the year ‘1858’ added to the date, but it is not clear whether this is in CD’s hand. The endorsement by Fox confirms that the letter was written in 1858.
3
Leroy 1802, pp. 104–5. CD cited this work on several occasions in chapter 10 of his species book, on the ‘Mental powers and instincts of animals’, but did not give this particular example.
4
See letter to W. D. Fox, 31 January [1858]. Fox had long been interested in nidification (see Correspondence vol. 1, letter from W. D. Fox, 30 June 1832).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 variations of] interl
3.5 or] over ‘&’
3.5 of any] after omitted point
4.1 smallest] before omitted point

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2202,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2202