Ɛpsilon

From T. M. Brewer to A. A. Gould1   [March 1858]2

My Dear Dr

In regard to the subject matter of Mr Darwins note to you I have to say that I have never known an instance in which ⁠⟨⁠our⁠⟩⁠ Yellow-billed Cuckoo has been known to drop an egg in the nest of any othe⁠⟨⁠r⁠⟩⁠ bird. I have however seen a nest (—it was exhibited so not found in the field—) of the Chipping Sparrow containing the egg of a Black-billed Cuckoo—but I have always supposed it was deposited there by human ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠3

⁠⟨⁠I know⁠⟩⁠ of few birds more faithful apparently to their own young than both species of our cuckoos.

Very truly yrs | T M Brewer

Dr A. A. Gould

CD annotations

Bottom of last page: ‘Ch. 10’4 brown crayon

First CD note:

Yarrell Vol. 2 p. 205 2d Editn asserts that the Coccyzus Americanus occasionally lays eggs in other birds nests5 | Nothing in Wilson or Audubon6 on subject | get Yarrell | [Number] [illeg] colour of eggs present, recognised in [nest] but some [illeg] | [illeg] says [illeg] eggs [illeg] small7 | Ch. 10

Second CD note:

Look in Agassiz Catalogue for Grays paper on [maternal] instinct of Cuckoo— Read before Zoolog. Soc.8

1
This letter was previously published in Correspondence vol. 7, without the note by CD. CD had asked Gould for information on the habits of the American cuckoo. Gould, in turn, had forwarded the queries to Thomas Mayo Brewer, an authority on birds’ eggs, and then sent Brewer’s reply to CD (see Correspondence vol. 7, letter to A. A. Gould, 6 April [1858]).
2
For the basis of the date, see Correspondence vol. 7, letter to A. A. Gould, 6 April [1858], n. 1.
3
See Correspondence vol. 7, letter to A. A. Gould, 6 April [1858]. The yellow-billed cuckoo was Cuculus americanus (a synonym of Coccyzus americanus); the black-billed cuckoo was Cuculus erythropthalmus (a synonym of Coccyzus erythropthalmus). The chipping sparrow was Fringilla passerina (a synonym of Spizella passerina).
4
The annotation refers to chapter 10 of CD’s posthumously published ‘Big book’ on species, on ‘Mental powers and instincts of animals’, where CD discussed the American cuckoo (Natural selection, pp. 506–7).
5
William Yarrell’s A history of British birds (Yarrell 1845).
6
CD had a copy of vol. 1 of John James Audubon’s Ornithological biography (Audubon 1831–[9]). He also refers to Alexander Wilson’s American ornithology (Wilson 1808–14).
7
In Wilson 1808–14, 4: 14, 16, Wilson said that the size of the eggs of the yellow-billed cuckoo, which he referred to as Cuculus caroliniensis (a synonym of Coccyzus americanus), was ‘proportionable to that of the bird’, while the eggs of the black-billed cuckoo were smaller.
8
Louis Agassiz’s Bibliographia zoologiæ et geologiæ 3: 111 lists a summary of remarks on the habits of cuckoos made by John Edward Gray before the Zoological Society of London on 25 October 1836 (L. Agassiz 1848–54). Gray suggested that the female cuckoo sometimes continued to look after her young, even though they were in another bird’s nest (see also Natural selection, p. 507, and Origin, p. 218).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2421,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2421